Bangladesh names Sohul Hussain, Anwara Syed Haq to Election Commission search committee

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.

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.

Speaking to bdnews24.com after the new search committee was announced, Justice Obaidul Hassan said they would speak to Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam and sit at the “shortest possible time”.

“We will try to sit by [Sunday] and finish our work by fixing the terms of reference following the law and within the time stipulated by the law.”

BNP ‘NOT INTERESTED’

Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, a member of the BNP’s Standing Committee, said, “Search committee is not an interesting subject to me. So the question of who are on it or whether it is neutral does not arise.”

“We don’t want to comment on it. But it does not seem neutral to me,” he added.

“Bangladesh is a very small place. Everyone knows about everyone else. Instead of making me comment, please check it [committee’s neutrality] yourself,” he told reporters.

JATIYA PARTY

Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader said they proposed the passage of a law to form the Election Commission, but the law is not what they expected. It is rather the old law offered as though  it is a new one, he said in a statement.

Now the main opposition in parliament is waiting to see what names the committee propose for the next Election Commission, Quader said.

“We want the search committee to nominate impartial people who have acceptability in all quarters so that they can organise free and fair elections.”