KM Nurul Huda named Bangladesh's new chief election commissioner

Former secretary KM Nurul Huda has been named the country’s new chief election commissioner, under whose leadership the constitutional body will oversee the next parliamentary elections scheduled for early 2019.

Huda will have 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.

President Md Abdul Hamid picked the five individuals from a list of 10 recommended by the EC search committee, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told a hurriedly called press conference on Monday night.

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder was the other choice of the search committee for the CEC's post.

Five years ago, his name had come up as a prospective CEC along with that of Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad. Majumder, who retired in 2008, has thus been unable to make it to the office for a second time.

Huda, a 1973 batch officer of Bangladesh Civil Service, hails from Patuakhali.

He has served as chief executive of Dhaka City Corporation.

He was also joint secretary and additional secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Parliament Secretariat, respectively.

He retired in 2006 after being made officer on special duty for a long time during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government.

The six-member search panel handing over its recommendations to President Md Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban.

The four others recommended for the election commissioners' posts but have not been chosen are former Planning Commission member Abdul Mannan, and Professors Tofail Ahmed, Zarina Rahman Khan, and Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah.

Shafiul Alam said the ruling Awami League had proposed the name of former judge Kabita.

The BNP had two of its choices in the list of 10 and one of them made it to the EC, the cabinet secretary said. They are writers Mahbub Talukder and Prof Tofail.

Shafiul Alam, whose division provided the search committee with secretarial help, 'could not remember' which party proposed Nurul Huda and Ali Imam's names for the CEC job.

"I can't remember now... but not the two major parties (the Awami League and BNP), some other party," he said on being asked.

Before announcing the names of the new chief election commissioner and four election commissioners at a briefing on Monday, the Cabinet secretary showed this list of 10 persons recommended to the president by the search panel.

The Awami League earlier said it will accept whatever decision the president makes.

The BNP, apparently dissatisfied with the new EC, has said it will make its official reaction known on Tuesday.

The Kazi Rakibuddin-led EC's tenure is ending on Feb 8. Nurul Huda's commission, the 12th one of Bangladesh, will take oath then.

Ahead of the end of the current EC's tenure, President Hamid initiated the process of constituting the new EC through talks with the political parties.

He formed the six-member search committee after the dialogue. The committee had Appellate Division judge Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain as its head. Its members were High Court judge Justice Obaidul Hassan, Public Service Commission Chairman Muhammed Sadique, Comptroller and Auditor General Masud Ahmed, Dhaka University English Department Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, and Chittagong University Pro-VC Shireen Akhter.

The committee had 10 working days to deliver and it made a list of 20 after getting proposals from the political parties and meetings distinguished citizens.

It finalised pruned the list to 10 on Monday afternoon and handed it to the president at the Bangabhaban in the evening.

Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam then said details will be revealed at a press conference at 9pm.

Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam (third from left) briefing the media on Monday.

The Cabinet Division had already started preparations for the announcement. Additional Cabinet Secretary Abdul Wadud told bdnews24.com at around 8pm that the circular on the appointments might be issued by the night.

Later at the press conference, Shafiul announced the president has picked out five for the new EC from the 10 names.

He then read out the 10 recommendations and later the five finally chosen by the president.

"I hope there will be no debate surrounding the new Election Commission," he said in reply to journalists' queries.

The circular was issued around half an hour later.

According to the Cabinet secretary, the political parties proposed altogether 128 names.

Shafiul said the new EC includes names proposed by 'all the major parties'.

Asked about which political parties' recommendations other than those of the BNP and Awami League could make it to the list of 10, he said, "I'll have to check the record. It's not in my memory."

He also thinks though the names were proposed by the political parties, the persons are 'impartial'.

"Congratulations to all of them. We hope and pray that they will be able to fulfil aspirations of the nation," he later said in a Facebook post.