BNP walks out of discussion with NCC

FE REPORT | Published: July 28, 2025 23:08:04

Disagreements among the political parties over appointments to the constitutional bodies, including Public Service Commission (PSC) and Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC), heated up the National Consensus Commission's (NCC) discussion on Monday.
The political parties took completely opposite positions on the selection process on the 20th day of the discussion with the NCC held at the Foreign Service Academy in the city on Monday.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) walked out at the beginning of the consensus commission's discussion for about 30 minutes on the issue of appointments in PSC, ACC, and of Auditor General and Controller and Ombudsman.
After the introductory speech of the commission's vice-chairman Prof Ali Riaz, BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said that their party would not participate in the discussion.
"We walked out for some time because our statement was clear that forming a committee to deal with the appointments in some constitutional institutions and one or two statutory institutions and including it in the constitution will create complications in the future in running the government or the state," said the BNP leader.
Salahuddin Ahmed said weakening the executive in appointing constitutional and legal bodies could cause problems in the long run.
"The executive branch must be empowered, not weakened, to meet the expectations of the people and ensure good governance," he said.
He said that BNP has also proposed adding a clause that any constitutional amendment related to the caretaker government must be passed in a referendum before being approved by the President, which has been accepted.
However, some time after the walkout, BNP again participated in the discussion.
Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP took opposite positions regarding appointments in the constitutional bodies and demanded that there will be no political involvement or influences of the ruling party or the government in the process.
"I don't see any cause of opposing it. It seems that the party's intention is to take advantage or interfere with the appointment," said Jamaat senior leader Syeed Abdullah Muhammad Taher.
NCP leader Akhter Hossain, taking a position in favour of the NCC proposal, requested BNP to change its stance.
There were instances of using those bodies like ACC to use politically to suppress the opposition.
Furthermore, appointments in PSC should also come through a selection committee without interference from the government.
Meanwhile, in a briefing after the day-long discussion, NCC Vice-President Prof Ali Riaz said most of the political parties overwhelmingly agreed on incorporating ACC as a constitutional body. However, BNP and some others took opposite stance.
BNP and Jamaat initially agreed on returning to the 13th constitutional amendment on the caretaker system.
However, as there is a room for the president to take a position as a last resort; therefore it is still not decided.
"Jamaat tabled a new proposal on it. We asked to share in written format by Monday night so that the commission can reach a decision on the appointment of chief adviser of the caretaker government in the constitution", he added.
The commission reached consensus on 12 issues out of 20 and was to send a draft consensus to the political parties that they were expecting to be finalised by July 31, he added.
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