The search committee formed to reconstitute the Election Commission yesterday dropped the name of security expert Major General (retd) Abdur Rashid from the list of five eminent citizens invited earlier to meet the committee today, cabinet sources said. Rashid has been dropped from of the list of eminent citizens invited for the second phase of meeting with the panel to avoid controversy as he is an accused in a fund embezzlement case, the sources said. “He (Rashid) has also been urged over phone not to attend today’s meeting,” Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam, who is also the spokesperson of the search committee, told The Independent yesterday.
The search panel will now hold the meeting with the remaining four personalities today. They are former chief election commissioner Mohammad Abu Hena, Daily Samakal Editor Golam Sarwar, Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam, Barrister Rokan Uddin Mahmud. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the SC Judges Lounge at 11am.  Earlier, the search panel on Monday held the first meeting with the country’s eminent citizens to get their suggestions to form a neutral EC comprising of honest and efficient people. Twelve eminent citizens attended the meeting.