For the first time in the country’s 50 years’ history, the nation on Saturday got a new Election Commission (EC) formed through a law enacted by the National Parliament.
According to a gazette notification issued Saturday evening by the Cabinet Division, Kazi Habibul Awal, a former secretary of the Ministry of Defence, was appointed as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), while four other members of the EC are former District and Sessions Judge Begum Rashida Sultana, former Brigadier General Ahsan Habib Khan, former Senior Secretary Md Alamgir and former Senior Secretary Anisur Rahman.
As per the gazette notification signed by Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam, the President of the state appointed those five persons as the CEC and other EC members for the next five years.
According to sources, the CEC and all other four members of the EC have been selected from the list proposed by different political parties, non-political organisations, and individuals. The list of proposed names earlier was made public for the sake of the transparency of the Search Committee.
As per the list comprising 322 proposed names published by the Cabinet Division, the name of newly appointed CEC Kazi Habibul Awal, was in the 49th position. The name of one of the four new EC members, former District and Sessions Judge Begum Rashida Sultana was in the 261st position, the name of former Brigadier General Ahsan Habib Khan was in the 236th position, former Senior Secretary Md Alamgir was in the 154th position, and former Senior Secretary Anisur Rahman was in the 144th position.
It is for the first time in the country’s 50 years’ history, the Awami League led government on January 27 enacted a law through the National Parliament.
Later, on February 5, a six-member Search Committee led by Appellate Division Justice Obaidul Hasan of the Supreme Court was formed to find out eligible people for the posts of the CEC and four other EC members.
Five other members of the Search Committee were Justice SM Kuddus Zaman of High Court Division, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairman Mohammed Sohrab Hossain, former Election Commissioner Mohammed Sohul Hossain and Professor Anwara Syed Haq, who is also known to all as a prominent writer and columnist.
Day after the formation of the Search Committee, on February 6, it urged all the 39 political parties registered with the EC to suggest names of eligible persons for the post of the CEC and EC members. The Search Committee also had urged the individuals for the same suggestions.
In response to the Search Committee, 24 political parties, including the ruling Awami League, six other non-political organisations and a number of individuals suggested a total of 329 names as the proposals for the posts of CEC and EC.
Later, the Cabinet Division published a list comprising 322 proposed names.
As per the procedure, the Search Committee later on Thursday sorted out 10 names from the list and submitted the list to the President with recommendations. Then, the President selected five names from the 10 proposed names.