EC search committee formed

Former Election Commissioner Sohul Hussain and fiction writer Prof Anwara Syed Haq have been named to the search committee that will nominate candidates for the upcoming Election Commission, reports bdnews24.com

The two are the 'special citizens' named to the panel alongside the heads of the constitutional agencies.

The Cabinet Division announced the six appointments to the search committee on Saturday.

The committee will be led by Justice Obaidul Hassan, an Appellate Division judge, who has been a member of the search committee twice before.

High Court Justice SM Kuddus Zaman, Comptroller and Auditor General Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, and Bangladesh Public Service Commission Chairman Md Sohorab Hossain are the other members of the panel.

The search committee will propose names for the roles of chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners, who will pick from the list to form the new Election Commission.

According to the new law passed by parliament on Election Commission formation, the search panel has a maximum of 15 days.

However, as the tenure of the current KM Nurul Huda-led commission will end on Feb 14, this search committee will have less time.

President Md Abdul Hamid will have to announce the new commission before the previous one's term comes to an end on Feb 10.

For a long time, political parties had urged the passing of a constitutional law to govern the formation of the Election Commission.

In the absence of a law, the power to appoint election commissioners was vested in the president in line with the Constitution.

The late president Zillur Rahman had formed the previous Election Commission by selecting a committee to shortlist names of possible candidates for the posts of the election commissioners and their chief.

Hamid had followed suit the next time to appoint CEC Huda and the commissioners from the names recommended by the search committee.

But, amid political parties' discussion with the president regarding the formation of the search panel, the Cabinet approved a new draft of a law on EC formation. The law was passed in parliament on Jan 27. The swift drafting and passage of the law generated much public discussion.

To be recommended for the post of Election Commissioner, the new law says that an individual must fulfil three requirements: they must be a Bangladeshi citizen, he or she must be at least 50 years old, and they must have at least 20 years of work experience in any important government, judicial, semi-government or private job.