The councillors of the ruling Awami Legaue (AL) on Sunday elected new office bearers. Incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was elected President and Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, the General Secretary of the party for a three-year term.
Some 6,750 councillors of AL, the oldest political party of the country, unanimously elected them in the council as there were no other contenders for the two top party posts.
The first day programme was held at the historic Suhrawardy Uday in the capital.
Hasina was re-elected as President of the AL unopposed for the eighth
consecutive time, while Quader was elected the General Secretary of the party for the first time on the closing day of the two-day-long 20th National Council held at the Institute of Engineers in the city.
Awami League Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury proposed Hasina's name for the post of President and Engr Mosharraf Hossain seconded Sajeda's proposal.
While, former AL General Secretary and incumbent committee Presidium Member Syed Ashraful Islam proposed Quader's name as General Secretary which was endorsed by the Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak.
Sheikh Hasina was first elected Awami League President in 1981.
Quader is a former president of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student associate body of the Awami League and a Presidium Member of the ruling party in last committee.
Later, newly-elected President Hasina announced the name of 14 Presidium Members of the 19- member body, four Joint Secretaries and a Treasurer. Incumbent President and General Secretary will be considered ex-officio of the highest decision making body of the party.
The 16 Presidium Members are, Sheikh Hasina (ex-officio as President), Obaidul Quader (ex-officio as General Secretary), Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mohammad Nasim, Kazi Zafarullah, Syed Ashraful Islam, Sahara Khatun, Engr Mosharraf Hossain, Nurul Islam Nahid, Abdur Razzak, Faruk Khan, Abdul Mannan Khan, Ramesh Chandra Sen and Pijush Kanti Bhattacharya.
The four Joint Secretaries are Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, Dipu Moni, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman while the Treasurer is HN Ashiqur Rahman.
Earlier, Razzak, Convener of the Constitution Sub-Committee of the council, presented amendments to the party constitution which was passed by the councillors.
As per the amendment, the size of the national committee will be 180 in place of the existing 170. The committee will hold meeting once a year instead of every six months. But the meeting will be held more than once if the party President desires.
According to the amendments, the number of Presidium Members will be increased to 19, including party President and General Secretary, from the existing 15 while that of Joint Secretaries to four from the existing three. Besides, there will be eight Organising Secretaries in place of seven.
There will be a 19-member Local Government Nomination Board for party nominations for the local government bodies.
