SPECIALEC to seek law for commissioner appointment

Moinul Hoque Chowdhury

bdnews24.com senior correspondent

Dhaka, June 3 (bdnews24.com)—The Election Commission (EC) will ask the government to enact a law on appointment of commissioners to make the organisation widely acceptable to all and free from debate.

A draft proposal on the issue has already been made ready, on which the EC will hold talks with representatives from the political parties, media and civil society.

Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told bdnews24.com on Thursday that the proposal should be accepted as "there is no alternative to appoint election commissioners without stirring up a debate to strengthen the body".

He also suggested that the EC should be made an independent organisation.

The draft, stipulating the appointment of a chief election commissioner and three members, including a woman member, was prepared in line with the constitution, Sakhawat added.

A similar proposal was made during the military-backed caretaker government in 2008, but the then interim government did not pay heed.

The issue of fortifying the EC comes after the Supreme Court repealed the 13th amendment to the constitution which introduced the caretaker government system.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said at a press meet on Tuesday that there was no option to retain the system following the verdict.

The court also suggested that the next two polls could be held under the system but gave parliament the liberty to decide.

Hasina also said that the next general elections would be held under the Westminster system and that polls would be held under the Election Commission, not the government.

The EC, on Apr 7, sent three proposals to the special parliamentary committee on constitution amendment to be included in the charter. The proposals respectively prevent candidature from more than one constituency, ensure that caretaker governments take advice from the EC, and a bar on challenges against any EC decision between polls schedule declaration and result publication as gazette.

Co-chair of the committee Suranjit Sengupta in response to the proposals said that it was not necessary to incorporate such issues in a charter review, but through incorporation in the Representation of People Order (RPO).

Sakhawat on Thursday told reporters that for a fair election, the EC has to move on its own path. "The commission must not be government-leaning," he stressed.

SERACH COMMITTEE

A search committee will form a panel of probable commissioners and will recommend three names against each position to the prime minister.

Later the parliament's Business Advisory Council, formed jointly by the government and the opposition, will scrutinise the list and send it to the president, who will make the appointments.

The commissioner reasoned that if the appointments were made through the parliamentary body, as suggested in the draft proposal, there would be no more debate.

The search committee will be formed with the chief election commissioner (CEC), as convenor, and, a judge, nominated by the chief justice; the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman; the Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman; the comptroller and auditor general; and the controller of PSC, as members.

DISQUALIFICATION

The draft law also suggest that candidates should be disqualified if they were not considered honest, not earning legally, were a member of any national or local political party or a party's associate body, or if they had interest in contesting the general elections with the backing of any political party.

It also bars candidates who are loan defaulters, as borrowers, company directors or partners of a defaulting company, from the CEC or commissioner posts.

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