With support from the two newly appointed election commissioners, the chief election commissioner (CEC) had the majority in his favour to take the decision yesterday. The commission however did not come to a decision about matters such as the dates for publishing the draft and final rolls.

The commission will decide what to do after February 20 only on knowing the outcome of the appeal it plans to file against the High Court's (HC) January 4 directives that asked for revision of the existing roll, sources said.

Sources said the EC Secretariat yesterday afternoon communicated to the district election officers the EC's decision and asked them to continue the field level work, which includes collection of information about prospective voters and scrutiny of those.

"Directions regarding the methods and schedule for preparation and publication of the draft and final rolls will be issued later as per the Election Commission decision and the court's ruling [on the appeal being planned to be filed against the HC verdict]," a district election officer told The Daily Star, quoting from the circular issued by the EC Secretariat yesterday.

In accordance with the schedule declared on December 6, the deadline for completion of the field level task was January 31. The draft voter list was timetabled to be published on February 28 while the final list on June 1.

"We will decide later on the next steps about the voter-listing work," CEC MA Aziz yesterday told reporters at his office in presence of two new election commissioners, Mahfuzur Rahman and SM Zakaria.

In the file forwarded to them for their opinion, election commissioners M Munsef Ali and AK Mohammad Ali opposed the extension of time as, they said, the work is not being done in line with the HC January 4 directives.

CEC MA Aziz yesterday for the first time talked about non-compliance with the January 4 HC observations. He said, "Observations cannot be made without issuing any rule."

MA Aziz, also a sitting judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, was speaking to the reporters at his office after taking the decision on time extension for the field level task.

MA Aziz, who joined the office yesterday after a week of absence for illness, said, "I have never witnessed any such observations neither in my 24 years' career as a practising lawyer nor in the 10 years as a judge of the Supreme Court."

The HC has neither issued a rule nor asked the EC to stop the ongoing task for a fresh voter list. It has only taken cognisance of the petitioners' prayers for a court ruling or stay on the task, he observed.

Asked about the rationale for filing an appeal against the HC's observations, the CEC said the EC does not agree with the observations and that is why it needs to file the appeal.

Contradicting the view, Election Commissioner Mohammad Ali said the EC should implement the HC's judgement.

"The work of preparing the voter list is not being done in accordance with the judgement. And that's why Election Commissioner Munsef Ali and I did not approve of the proposal for time extension," he told reporters at his office.

The voter-listing job undertaken by unilateral decision of the CEC began on January 1. The HC in response to two writ petitions on January 4 asked the EC to revise the existing list.

But the EC Secretariat continued the work, ignoring the court orders.

The court also asked the commission to call immediately a meeting. But the CEC convened the meeting on January 19 after appointment of two new election commissioners. At the meeting the EC decided to file the appeal against the HC's directives.

Counsel for the EC Khondakar Mahbubuddin Ahmed told The Daily Star on Monday that the appeal would be filed on Wednesday.

Due to controversy and uncertainty stemming from legal battles, the field level work continues at a very slow pace. A good number of eminent persons along with others have yet to be on the list of prospective voters. Even the CEC himself did not get listed as a voter within the first deadline.