Only presidium members to represent party

Amid a storm of criticism within the party over the size of the AL committee for electoral reform dialogue with the Election Commission (EC), the organisation decided to make its current 21-member committee smaller.
Although the EC had sought 10 representatives from AL for the dialogue, the party formed a 21-member committee to review the commission's draft electoral reform proposal and to represent itself in the dialogue scheduled for tomorrow.
The EC however also gave a nod to AL hinting that it has no objection if the AL delegation is as big as having 21 members on it.
But, as some of the committee members including Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Latif Siddiqui, and some others opposed having such a large delegation and expressed that they might abstain from participating in the dialogue if the committee remains so large, AL finally decided to send all its presidium members under the leadership of Acting AL President Zillur Rahman to sit with the EC instead.
Earlier, Presidium Member Motia Chowdhury raised a question asking why some of the senior presidium members had not been included in the committee on October 22, when the party's central working committee (ALCWC) had formed a 16-member committee.
On November 1, Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury sought an explanation at an ALCWC meeting regarding why she had not been included in the dialogue committee.
AL yesterday finally disclosed that its Acting President Zillur Rahman delegated Tofail Ahmed with the responsibility of forming the new dialogue committee comprising all presidium members only.
Informing reporters about reformation of the dialogue committee, AL Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed, who is also the chairman of the committee, yesterday said they had formed the 21-member committee to review the EC's draft electoral reform proposal thoroughly.
The party also formed a sub-committee to finalise its own electoral reform proposals, the final draft of which the central working committee approved and which will be placed to the EC during the dialogue, he said.
"But we have decided now that the party presidium members will meet the Election Commission under the leadership of Acting President Zillur Rahman," he added.
“We have prepared our proposals with an aim to holding a free and fair election acceptable to all, and the proposals are based on the 31-point electoral reform proposal of the 14-party coalition,” Tofail said.
He said they want implementation of the EC announced election roadmap, and requested the caretaker government and the commission to remain vigilant lest they veer off the road charted by themselves.
Among others, Sajeda Chowdhury, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Motia Chowdhury, and AL Acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam might be in the AL delegation to the dialogue with EC tomorrow.