At the end of the first day of the second round of meetings with the National Consensus Commission, it was decided that the opposition parties will get the chairperson positions of four important parliamentary standing committees.
All the political parties agreed to make changes to Article 70 of the Constitution and to reserve 100 seats for women in the National Parliament. But they did not yet agree on how these changes will be made.
Political parties also agreed that the chairperson posts of other important public committees will go to opposition parties based on the number of MPs they have.
The second round of meetings between the National Consensus Commission and 30 political parties was held on Tuesday at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.
The National Consensus Commission team included Vice-Chairman Professor Ali Riaz, Abdul Mueed Chowdhury, Safar Raj Hossain, Badiul Alam Majumder and Dr. Iftekharuzzaman.
The parties agreed that opposition parties will lead the Public Accounts Committee, Privilege Committee, Estimate Committee, and Public Undertaking Committee. They also agreed that other important committees will be led by opposition parties, in proportion to the number of MPs they have.
BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said that BNP agreed to many proposals that were not part of their original reform plan.
He said, "We have agreed on many proposals outside our proposals in the discussions. You will see that when you discuss it with the Consensus Commission."
After the meeting, he told journalists in the evening, "They have agreed in principle with many proposals, and partially with some."
He said, "They have agreed on various areas including the judiciary, magistracy and ACC. They have also agreed on many issues in the electoral system, which were outside their proposals."
On the topic of how the Chief Justice is appointed, he said, "The power that is in the current constitution is in the hands of the President. The President can independently appoint the Chief Justice. In the current situation, there is an opportunity to make any citizen of Bangladesh the Chief Justice."
He added, "We think that this should not be the case. To establish the rule of law, we want to come to a restriction on this matter. The President will be determined, he will appoint the Chief Justice on the basis of these criteria."
Salahuddin Ahmed also talked about a bicameral parliament (two chambers). He said, "We agree with the idea of a bicameral parliament. We have also mentioned this in our proposed 31 points. The number of seats in the upper house will be 100. It has been named the Senate, although it has not been finalized yet."
He continued, "Most political parties agree with our proposal for 100 seats and most political parties also agree on the issue of a bicameral parliament. However, some political parties have objections to this. Their number may not be large."
However, the Jatiya Nagorik Party (NCP) raised concerns about Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, accusing him of favouring BNP's proposals. They also questioned how the Consensus Commission is doing its work.
Ariful Islam Adib, head of the party's political liaison committee, said that out of six proposals from the commission, the Chief Adviser supported the one given by BNP. He said, "I have questioned the method in which the National Consensus Commission is moving forward, the method of selecting their parties. I have questioned the statement of the head of government as the chairman of the National Consensus Commission before Eid."
Adib also said, "The Reform Commission had earlier said that they had made six proposals on the method by which the National Charter or July Charter would be prepared. One of these proposals was to make constitutional reforms after the parliamentary elections."
He added, "When the Chief Adviser announced the election date (first half of April) before Eid (in his address to the nation) as the chairman of the Consensus Commission, he leaned towards one of the six proposals of the commission, which was given by BNP."
Finally, Adib said, "The path the Consensus Commission is taking now, the position of the Consensus Commission on what issues will be in the elections, is somewhat questionable. Where BNP said that the next parliament will be reformed, the Chief Adviser's statement is somewhat biased."
