New Election Commission members to be sworn-in

The KM Nurul Huda-led Election Commission is all set to assume office as the five-member body, which will administer the next national election, will take oath on Wednesday.

Huda will be the first chief election commissioner, who joined the civil services after Bangladesh's independence in 1971.

He has on his team former additional secretary Mahbub Talukder, former secretary Rafiqul Islam, former district judge Kabita Khanam and former brigadier general Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury as election commissioners.

After holding meetings with dozens of political parties, President Md Abdul Hamid formed a search panel, which forwarded names of 10 individuals.

On Feb 6, president appointed former secretary Huda to head the commission and his four deputies, including a woman as an election commissioner for the first time in the country's history.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha is expected to swear-in the chief election commissioner and four commissioners at the Supreme Court judges' lounge at 3pm.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, the new Election Commissioners are expected to appear before the media at 5pm at the new EC offices.

Mixed reactions

The ruling Awami League and its allies have put their 'confidence' on the new EC, but the BNP and its allies said they were 'disappointed'. Jatiya Party, the Opposition in the House, has welcomed the new EC while the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) said they will wait to see how the Huda-led commission turns out to be

Obaidul Quader, Awami League General Secretary

"We have full confidence in the new Election Commission, which the president has formed based on the recommendations made by the search committee. We hope the BNP will take part in the polls administered by the election commission." 

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP Secretary General

"We think an organisation formed with a debatable former government official as the head will not be able to perform its duty without controversy. That's why this CEC will not be free, fair, impartial and acceptable elections will not be possible under this CEC."

ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, Jatiya Party General Secretary

"The new CEC is a valiant freedom fighter. He has performed his duties with honesty in the past."

Mujahidul Islam Selim, CPB President                                                                     

"It's hard to evaluate a body which has been formed based on personal preferences. The CPB will wait to see how it turns out to be.  

	CEC	Term	Commissioners	Elections
First	Justice Md Idris	Jul 7, 1972 – Jul 7, 1977	Noor Md Khan	The first general elections on Mar 7, 1973
Second	Justice AKM Nurul Islam	Jul 8, 1977 – Feb 17, 1985	Abdul Mumit Chowdhury	The second general elections on Feb 18, 1979
Third	Justice Chowdhury ATM Mosud	Feb 17, 1985 – Feb 17, 1990	Justice Sultan Hossain Khan (Partial)	The third general elections on May 7, 1986 and the fourth general elections on Mar 3, 1988
Fourth	Justice Sultan Hossain Khan	Feb 17, 1990 – Dec 24, 1990	Justice Noim Uddin Ahmed and Justice Aminur Rahman Khan	Ershad appointee CEC Sultan Hossain Khan was forced to step aside ten months into the term
Fifth	Justice Md Abdur Rouf	Dec 25, 1990 – Apr 18, 1995	Justice Noim Uddin Ahmed, Aminur Rahman Khan (Partial) and Justice Syed Misbah Uddin Hossain (Partial)	The fifth general elections on Feb 27, 1991 and the disputed 1994 Magura by-elections under the BNP administration
Sixth	Justice AKM Sadek	Apr 27, 1995 – Apr 6, 1996	Justice Md Abdul Jalil	The highly contentious sixth general elections on Feb 15, 1996
Seventh	Md Abu Hena	Apr 9, 1996 – May 8, 2000	Abidur Rahman, Mostaque Ahmed Chowdhury, Shafiur Rahman	The seventh general elections on Jun 12, 1996 and the disputed 1999 Tangail by-elections
Eighth	MA Sayeed	May 23, 2000 – May 22, 2005	MM Munsef Ali and AKM Mohammad Ali	The eighth general elections on Oct 1, 2001
Ninth	Justice MA Aziz	May 23, 2005 – Jan 21, 2007	MM Monsef Ali (Partial), AKM Mohammad Ali (Partial), SM Zakaria (Partial), Mofizur Rahman (Partial), Mohammad Hassan Monsur (Partial), Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury (Partial), Saiful Alam (Partial)	The military-backed temporary government came to power on Jan 11, 2007. The commission was dismissed before conducting the ninth general election
Tenth	ATM Shamsul Huda	Feb 5, 2007 – Feb 5, 2012	Mohammad Chuhul Hossain and M Sakhawat Hossain	The ninth general elections on Dec 29, 2008
Eleventh	Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad	Feb 9, 2007 – Feb 9, 2017	Mohammad Abdul Mobarak, Abu Hafiz, Abed Ali, Md Shahnewaz	The tenth general elections on Jan 5, 2014