Pick those with no political affiliations

Most of the 31 political parties, which held talks with the president on formation of the Election Commission, propose names to the search committee today for the five-member commission.

The ruling Awami League last night decided to put forward five names to the search panel. The decision was made at a joint meeting of its central working committee and advisory council.

On the other hand, the BNP has finalised five names for placing before the panel on EC formation. The party took the decision at a meeting with its chief Khaleda Zia in the chair at her Gulshan office last night.

However, neither of the two parties disclosed any of the names to the media.

The political parties would have to give the names to the panel by 3:00pm today.

Yesterday afternoon, a group of 12 civil society members held talks with the search committee at the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge, and urged it not to pick anyone with political affiliation for EC formation.

The panel said it would also have a meeting with five more civil society members tomorrow to get their opinions.

At yesterday's meeting, the civil society members suggested that the panel pick honest, competent, impartial and experienced persons for constituting the next EC.

“The search committee has its own modus operandi… The main objective of the views-exchange meeting was to give an idea of what types of persons the countrymen want to see in the Election Commission,” TIB Chairperson Sultana Kamal told journalists after the meeting.

“We said [to the panel] that the nation wants to see a commission that can hold a fair election. We proposed picking people who are honest, competent and who can carry out their responsibilities with honesty,” she added.

Former chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said, “Those who are party activists should not be included in the commission…”

Only those, who didn't have any political affiliation and didn't enjoy any position in a political party, should be considered for the posts of commissioner, he said.

AK Azad Chowdhury, former vice chancellor of Dhaka University, said, “Our suggestions were that the committee pick honest, patriotic and non-partisan people.”

Eminent educationist Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque said the issue of making a law on the EC was discussed at the meeting.

“We said there is still a chance to enact a law. There is no election in near future. There would be no problem even if the posts of commissioner remain vacant for the next one or two months. It would be good if the election commission is constituted after the enactment of the law,” he said.

Sujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said that once the names for the posts of commissioner are finalised, those should be made public to get people's opinion on them.

Briefing journalists, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the civil society members made valuable suggestions on the possible criteria for picking the right persons for the next EC.

“The majority of them suggested picking non-partisan persons, who are honest, skilled and experienced in field-level administration,” he said.

Earlier on January 25, President Abdul Hamid formed the six-member search panel, headed by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, after holding a series of talks with 31 political parties over EC formation.

The tenure of the incumbent commission expires next month.

According to the gazette notification published on January 25, the search committee will recommend two names each for the posts of the EC chief and four election commissioners.

Later, the president, on the prime minister's advice, will appoint the EC chief and other commissioners.

This is the first time a search committee on EC formation has held a meeting with civil society members. The previous committee formed in 2012 did not do so.

Shafiul said the panel would also hold a meeting with five more eminent civil society members on EC formation at the SC Judges' Lounge at 11:00am tomorrow.

The five are Daily Samakal Editor Golam Sarwar, Barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud, former chief election commissioner Abu Hena, security expert Maj Gen (retd) Abdur Rashid, and The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam.

Talking to The Daily Star, search committee member Muhammed Sadique said, “We are holding dialogue with the civil society members, as we consider their suggestions important. We are setting precedent so that search committees in future also have discussions with all the stakeholders before making any decision.”

AL MEETING

The joint meeting was held at the Gono Bhaban with AL President Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

At the beginning of the meeting, the floor was given to party leaders for opinions on whether the party should propose names to the panel, according to AL sources.

Some AL leaders said that if the AL places names before the panel and those are picked for the posts of commissioner, it might create a controversy.

But other leaders were of the view that if the party doesn't send names, it would mean disrespecting the search committee.

Hasina then asked all her party colleagues to suggest five names each. Later, she collected the names and told them that she would finalise the five names from their suggestions and send those to the search panel.

BNP-LED ALLIANCE'S STRATEGY

Apart from the BNP, six components of the BNP-led 20-party alliance will separately propose names to the search committee for constituting the next EC.

Several combine leaders said it was highly likely that there would be some common names on the lists of the alliance partners.

The decision of keeping common names on the lists was made at the secretary-general level meeting of the alliance at the BNP's Nayapaltan office yesterday, they said.

Golam Mustafa Bhuiyan, secretary general of Bangladesh NAP, told this newspaper that all the alliance leaders agreed to propose names to the panel.

Earlier, the BNP and its six allies got letters from the panel for proposing names.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League said it would propose only one name for the post of one female election commissioner, not for the other four posts.

The party would put forward the name of ex-additional secretary of the EC Jesmin Tuly for the post, according to a press release.