EC RECONSTITUTION
Search committee likely today
List will be sent to Cabinet Division
Staff Reporter
The much-talked about search committee to recommend the names of the next chief election commissioner (CEC) and other election commissioners is likely to be formed today, Bangabhaban sources said. I think that the search committee will be formed anytime -- most likely tomorrow (Wednesday), a highly placed source in Bangabhaban told The Independent yesterday. Another source, however, said the search committee to reconstitute the next Election Commission will be formed within a day or two. President Abdul Hamid will form the search committee in accordance with the proposals placed before him by political parties during the recently concluded talks over the EC reconstitution. The names of the committee members will be sent to the Cabinet Division from Bangabhaban and the division will announce the names, the sources said. The search committee, likely to be four or five strong, will be given 10-15 days to reconstitute the EC in a bid to oversee the next general elections scheduled to be held in 2019, the sources said. The tenure of the current commission expires on February 8.
During the past couple of days, the sources added, the president held a series of meetings with senior officials of Bangabhaban to finalise the search committee after analyzing the recommendations of the political parties. Earlier on Sunday, Awami League president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held a closed-door meeting with the president at her office in the Parliament Secretariat over the formation of the next EC, sources said. In 2012, the incumbent Election Commission was formed through a search committee recommended by most of the political parties that had held talks with then president Zillur Rahman. An Appellate Division judge, selected by the chief justice, was made the chief of the search committee to recommend names of the CEC and other commissioners.
The other members of the committee, formed on Jan 24, 2012, were a High Court judge, the comptroller and auditor general, and the chairman of the Public Service Commission. In the past couple of days, AL and BNP top leaders were at loggerheads over the name of the head of the search committee. AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader claimed that the BNP, during their talks with the president, had proposed the name of former chief justice KM Hasan as the search committee head. The BNP, however, dismissed the claim. Meanwhile, AL Office Secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap told this correspondent yesterday that during the talks with the president, the ruling party did not recommend any name for the search committee. Golap, also a special assistant to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said they have full confidence in the president. President Abdul Hamid wrapped up his month-long talks with 31 registered political parties on January 18. On the first day (December 18), the president held talks with a BNP delegation headed by its chairperson Khaleda Zia. Most of the political parties, including the AL, participated in the talks with the president and advocated for enactment of a law in the interest of ensuring an independent and strong Election Commission. Some political parties proposed for an all-party election-time government to ensure holding of fair and acceptable elections.
