Staff Reporter :
President Md Abdul Hamid on Wednesday formed a six-member search committee headed by an Appellate Division judge for the reconstitution of the election commission.
The search committee has been formed in line with the tradition set by the late president Zillur Rahman in 2012. President formed a six-member search committee yesterday morning for reconstitution of the new EC and sent the names to the Cabinet Division for publishing a gazette notification, said President’s Press Secretary Joynal Abedin.The search committee has been asked to submit the recommendations before the President Md. Abdul Hamid within 10 working days.
Later in the evening the cabinet division, playing as the secretarial role for the search committee, announced the committee through a gazette notification.
The six men search body are Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Judge, Appellate Division, Justice Obaidul Hassan, High Court Division, Masud Ahmed, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Dr Muhammed Sadique, Chairman, Bangladesh Public Service Commission, Syed Manzoorul Islam, Professor, English Department, Dhaka University and Shirin Akhtar Pro-Vice Chancellor, Chittagong University.
The names of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Obaidul Hassan were sent from the Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha’s Office.
The committee members will recommend the names of CEC and commissioners for a fresh election commission as the present EC’s’ incumbent five-year tenure will expire on February 8. The new EC will conduct the next general elections.
The new election commission, which will have five commissioners, will be in office for a five-year term.
The recommendations and draft prepared by the search body men will be sent to the President, who later will appoint the CEC and commissioners for the new election commission.
As per the committee’s recommendation, the President will appoint the CEC and election commissioners who will conduct the next general elections scheduled to be held in 2019.
Earlier on January 18, President Md. Abdul Hamid wrapped up his dialogue with political parties over the EC’s reconstitution.
The President had initiated the talks on 18 December last year as the five-year tenure of the incumbent EC will expire next month.
He held dialogue with a total of 31 political parties as per the Article 118 before appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and commissioners.
Although during talks, most of the political parties proposed enactment of a law over the recruitment of the CEC and election commissioners, but the proposal seems to go unheeded, as government did not want it, sources said.
During the month-long talks, the political parties separately placed a series of proposals and most of them proposed making a law for formation of EC.
Ruling Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jatiya Party (Ershad) held talks with the President and put forward a set of proposals for the formation of a search committee and the new EC.
Other major parties that joined the talks were Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Workers Party (WP), Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF), Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), Jatiya Party (Manju), Bangladesh Tarikat Federation (BTF), Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (BSD), National Awami Party (NAP), Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Gano Forum (GF), Ganotontri Party (GP), Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan (BKA), Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB), Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Ambia), Bangladesh Islami Front (BIF), Zaker Party (ZP) and Bangladesh Muslim League (BML), Khilafat Majlish and Jamiat e Ulama e Islam Bangladesh.
In 2012, late president Zillur Rahman first formed a four-member search committee following the dialogue with 24 political parties before the formation of the incumbent election commission headed by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad.
The committee was headed by an Appellate Division judge and also comprised a High Court judge, the comptroller and auditor general and the chairman of the Public Service Commission.
The then committee recommended two names against the vacant post of the chief election commissioner and two for each of the election commissioners.
As per the committee’s recommendation, the then president appointed Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad the CEC, while Mohammad Abdul Mobarak, Abu Hafiz, Zabed Ali and Md Shah Nawaz were named election commissioners.
