EC formation after talks with all parties: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said in parliament that President Abdul Hamid would form the new Election Commission after holding discussions with all political parties.

“The honourable president [Abdul Hamid] has taken the initiative [to form the EC]. He will hold talks with all political parties and form the Election Commission accordingly. We will observe the way he [president] forms the Election Commission, and we will accept it,” she said.

The PM was delivering her winding-up speech of the 13th session of the 10th Jatiya Sangsad with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

“We want that elections are held in a free, fair and neutral manner. It was Awami League that fought for establishing people's right to vote.

“Many of our leaders sacrificed their lives for this. We want that a fair democratic trend continues [in the country],” Hasina, also president of the AL, said.

On the BNP chief Khaleda Zia's proposal on EC formation, she said, “BNP has sent their opinion to Bangabhaban.

Now the president will hold talks [on EC formation].” The current EC ends its tenure this February.

On November 18, Khaleda called upon the government to form the next EC on the basis of "consensus" among all political parties, rolling out a 13-point proposal for its formation.

"The president should constitute a search committee on the basis of consensus among all registered political parties or the ones that had representation in parliament at different times since the country's independence. The committee would pick the chief election commissioner and four commissioners,” said Khaleda.

On the much-talked-about emergency landing of a Biman flight carrying the PM and her entourage at Turkmenistan on November 27, Hasina said, it was suspected that human error, not any technical glitch, was behind the incident.

“We contacted the Boeing authorities over the issue. They said some 6,000 aircrafts of Being 777-300 are now in operation and they did not find any single incident similar to the one happened in the Biman flight,” she added.

The VVIP flight to Budapest made the emergency landing at Ashgabat International Airport in Turkmenistan after a loose nut caused an oil leak and subsequent oil pressure loss in one of its two engines, according to a Biman probe.

Six Biman officials were suspended due to their negligence in carrying out duties following preliminary Biman findings.