Many refrain from sending names for EC

A split among the political parties over the acceptability of the Search Committee has become clear as 24 out of 39 registered parties proposed names for forming the Election Commission till yesterday, the last day for nominating the election commissioners.

Notable citizens who have been invited to a dialogue – today and tomorrow – on the formation of the EC have also expressed differing opinions on the success of the Search Committee's call for names.

In response to the call, 30 organisations, including 24 political parties, have proposed over 500 names, said sources at the Cabinet Division. A number of political parties including the BNP have not made any proposal. 

Along with the 24 political parties, six organisations of professionals, including the Bangladesh Medical Association, the Krishibid Institution, and the Institution of Engineers have proposed names for election commissioners, Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Shafiul Azim told reporters yesterday. 

"Apart from these, many individuals at home and abroad have also proposed many names. The list of names will now be presented to the Search Committee," said Shafiul Azim.

The Search Committee had first published a notification, requesting nominations of suitable candidates for election commissioners. Then the committee sent letters to registered political parties last Wednesday, requesting each party to propose names of maximum 10 persons for the post of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners by Friday afternoon. 

The ruling Awami League submitted its recommendations on Friday afternoon. Awami League's Information and Research Secretary Salim Mahmud and Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan submitted the list of names to the Cabinet Division at the Secretariat.

Selim Mahmud said, "On behalf of the Awami League, we have submitted a list of 10 qualified persons with their short biographies along with a forwarding letter signed by Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader in a closed envelope." 

The Awami League and other political parties, except Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, have not disclosed the names they proposed. 

Bikalpa Dhara has proposed five names including former cabinet secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan as chief election commissioner, said a press release from the party. 

The others nominated by Bikalpa Dhara were: local government specialist Prof Dr Tofail Ahmed, journalist and writer Abu Saeed Khan, former president of Fair Election Monitoring Alliance Munira Khan, and economist Dr Ahsan H Mansur.

The BNP did not propose any names and its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said, "We have no interest in forming a search committee to form the Election Commission, because, this initiative is meaningless."

Central leader of the Communist Party of Bangladesh Ruhin Hossain Prince said his party believed the process of submitting names for election commission formation to the search committee was inappropriate, which was why they did not suggest any name.    

"We hope the search committee will find the right persons on its own," he added.

Mixed reactions

Former election commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, one of the invitees for Sunday's dialogue, told The Business Standard that he would attend the meeting with the search committee to discuss election commission formation.

"However, I have no words to say this time. We suggested different things in the last 10 years but nothing changed," he added.

Local government specialist Tofail Ahmed said he would discuss the ways of forming the election commission but would not suggest any particular name.

"As we have seen in the past, the new commission will not act on its own rather than being dictated by the government in holding elections," he said, adding that the government was talking in a way as if the election commission was all in all. "But, that is not true. What will happen, we all will observe."

Another invitee Dhaka University Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam said the election commission would be formed with form the proposed names, following the law, like in the previous years.

When contacted, former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique said he was not sure about joining the search committee meeting. "I thank  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as her government enacted the law for forming the election commission although it is 50 years late."

Dhaka University Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor ASM Maksud Kamal also received the invitation and would attend the meeting. "I would express my opinion in favour of those who can hold free, fair and participatory elections."