"It will take time to file the appeal. Preparations are going on and I hope it will be filed by January 29 or 30," counsel for the EC Khondakar Mahbubuddin Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.

"We are in no hurry to file the appeal as we have enough time for it," he said, referring to the 60-day time frame allowed for filing an appeal.

The field-level work including information collection on the prospective voters and scrutiny of those is scheduled for completion by January 31. But the district election officers have already informed the EC that it will not be finished by that time.

They have been seeking directives from the EC Secretariat on the next course of action in the wake of recent developments. But the EC continues sitting on the matter as it waits for the result of the appeal that has yet to be lodged against the HC directives for revising the existing voter list.

"The Election Commission will sit and decide whether the time will be extended after receiving the result of the appeal," Election Commissioner SM Zakaria told reporters at his office yesterday.

Earlier at a meeting on January 19, the commission decided to file an appeal against the HC ruling.

Since August 6, the EC has not sat for reviewing the ongoing task of preparing the fresh roll, which was undertaken by unilateral decision of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

Even the January 19 EC meeting, which followed hard on the heels of the appointments of two new election commissioners, did not discuss the status of the voter-listing job.

Zakaria declined to comment on the issue saying, "I don't want to say anything about it as the matter is related to the court."

Field-level officials, however, said the progress has been very slow since the HC directives. The EC Secretariat has not yet given any direction regarding the remuneration for the manpower engaged in the job from January 1.

"We don't know what the outcome of the appeal will be. Every day we face numerous questions from the enumerators and supervisors about the present situation. But as we ourselves are in the dark, we cannot answer any of those queries," a district election officer told The Daily Star, wishing anonymity. "How can we work when such is the situation?" he asked.

An officer at the EC Secretariat said the enumeration and scrutiny in Dhaka have been progressing at a slower pace compared to those in the other districts. "Most of the eminent persons are yet to be on the list," he observed.

The counsel of the EC however said the commission can continue the work of the fresh roll as the court has not given any order to stop.

On the premise of the appeal, Khondakar Mahbubuddin said the judgement itself is contradictory. "The court has asked to prepare the new voter list on the basis of the existing one, whereas the electoral laws do not provide for it," he said.