EC search committee meets four eminent citizens

The president-formed search committee has met four eminent citizens as part of its series of meetings to finalise recommendations for the next election commissioners.

On Wednesday, the six-member panel led by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain held a meeting with former chief election commissioner Abu Hena, Bangla daily 'Samakal' Editor Golam Sarwar, English national The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud.
 
The meeting, which lasted for almost one and half hour, started at 11am at the judges' lounge of the Supreme Court.
 
On Jan 25, President Md Abul Hamid formed the committee, which will recommend names for next election commissioners.

Only 10 names will be forwarded to the president, who will then select five – the chief election commissioner and four commissioners.

The tenure of the current election commission expires in this month.

One of the main tasks of the new commission will be to hold 2019 general elections to form the 11th Parliament.

Before forming the panel, the president had dialogues with 31 political parties including the ruling Awami League and its arch-rival BNP as part of the process of selecting a search committee. 

The other members of the committee are High Court judge Justice Obaidul Hassan, Bangladesh Public Service Commission Chairman Dr Muhammed Sadique, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Masud Ahmed, Dhaka University English Department Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, and Chittagong University Pro-VC Shireen Akhter.

The committee has been given 10 working days to submit the names to the president and that time ends on Feb 8.

The panel, which sat for the first time on Saturday, had sought names from the 31 parties, but only 27 of them responded. Two of them, however, did not propose any name.

On Monday, it also met 12 distinguished citizens to get their views on the next election commission.