The commission aims to complete its task by July, he says
Published : 07 Apr 2025, 09:36 PM
National Consensus Commission Vice-Chairman Ali Riaz has said they will soon start seeking the people’s views on national reforms through an online survey.
Speaking at the LD Hall of the parliament complex on Monday, he said the survey would open a way for the public to express their opinions.
The Consensus Commission, led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, became active on Feb 15. It aims to hold discussions with parties and political forces to form a national consensus and review the recommendations made by the reform panels ahead of the next parliamentary elections.
After reform panels forwarded their recommendations, the commission requested the 38 political parties to provide comments on them by Mar 13.
Nine parties have yet to submit their opinions on the recommendations.
“We’ve received opinions from 29 political parties and are holding discussions based on those. We held dialogues with four political parties before Eid and resumed discussion [on Monday] after [Eid] break,” Riaz said.
“Hopefully the first phase of dialogues with parties and alliances will conclude by the first week of May.”
“We will then enter the second phase. In that case, differing opinions outside things agreed upon [will be there]. Some things need to be elaborated. We’ll hopefully be able to discuss these in the second week of May.
“The commission aims to wrap up its responsibilities by July, he added.
The interim government wants to hold the general election between December this year and the first half of 2026 plugging in reforms based on consensus among political parties.
The parties had been cooperating with the commission, he said. “Political parties represent the people, not just a particular group or section of society. We want to take the views outside of those.
“We will start down that path very soon. Our sincere effort is to establish consensus through the participation of everyone. So that we can focus on the reform process."
The Consensus Commission sat with the AB Party, led by Chairman Mojibur Rahman, around 3pm on Monday.