Bangladesh
EC Formation EC formation: Search Committee to sit with 60 eminent citizens tomorrow
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, February 11: The search committee will hold a meeting with 60 eminent citizens and professionals on Saturday to seek their views on the formation of a new Election Commission (EC).
The Cabinet Division has already invited the eminent citizens and professionals to attend the meeting of the search committee. The meeting will be held at the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge, said Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam.
A six-member search committee headed by Justice Obaidul Hasan of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court was constituted on January 5 to form a new Election Commission (EC) under the 'Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Appointment Act, 2022'. According to the law, the committee has to submit its recommendation to the President within 15 working days. The Cabinet Division is providing secretarial assistance to the committee.
The term of the current Election Commission headed by KM Nurul Huda is ending on February 14. The newly constituted search committee will make recommendations to the President to form a new Election Commission through the appointment of a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four Election Commissioners.
Earlier, after the second meeting of the search committee at the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge on Tuesday, the Cabinet Secretary told reporters that a meeting will be held on Saturday from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm and another from 12:45 pm to 2:15 pm with our eminent citizens and professionals, journalists and dignitaries . Then there will be a meeting on Sunday, February 13, at 4 pm. There will be a total of three meetings.
According to the cabinet department, the search committee has invited former caretaker government adviser AF Hasan Arif, former vice chancellor of Dhaka University Prof A A M S Arefin Siddique, lawyer and constitutional expert Shahdin Malik, literary Syed Manjurul Islam, educationist Dr. Md. Golam Rahman, historian Muntasir Mamun, Prof. Dr. Zafar Iqbal, political analyst Asif Nazrul, former cabinet secretary M Abdul Aziz, local government expert Tofail Ahmed, lawyer Roknuddin Mahmud, journalist Mahfuz Anam Mozammel Babu, poet Mahadev Saha and others.
