'13th parliamentary elections will be held under interim government'

The Appellate Division has declared the much-discussed verdict to abolish the non-partisan caretaker government system during the election period as illegal. With this, the caretaker government system returned after 14 years.

The verdict said, 'Although such revival ensures automatic restoration of the provisions related to the non-partisan caretaker government described in Section 2(a), it will be effective subject to the application of the provisions of the revived Article 58(b)(1) and Article 58(c)(2).'

The verdict further said, 'The provisions related to the non-partisan caretaker government described in the restored and revived Section 2(a) will be effective only on the basis of such future applicability.'

Although the caretaker government system is automatically restored in the constitution through this judgment, the upcoming 13th National Parliament elections will be held under an interim government.

The judgment states that the caretaker government system will be effective from the 14th National Parliament elections.

In its observation of this judgment, the Appellate Division said, 'The past judgment to abolish the caretaker government system was tainted and flawed in multiple errors. The court has unanimously decided that the judgment of the Appellate Division to abolish the caretaker government system under review is flawed in multiple errors that are clearly evident from the record. For this reason, the past judgment of the Appellate Division is completely quashed. As a result, the provisions of Part Four, Chapter 2(a) of the Constitution relating to the non-partisan caretaker government, which were inserted by Section 3 of the Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act, 1996 (Act No. 1 of 1996), were revived and activated through this judgment.

Explaining the judgment, senior lawyer Shishir Monir said, 'With this judgment, the caretaker government system has automatically returned to the Constitution. However, the upcoming Thirteenth National Parliament election will be held under an interim government. The caretaker government system will be effective from the Fourteenth National Parliament election. That is, the caretaker government system will be formed within 15 days of the dissolution of the Parliament.'