In the meeting of the National Consensus Commission (NCC), political parties have agreed on the proposed provision of appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners.
According to the decision of NCC meeting, a five-member selection committee, led by the Speaker of the House, will oversee the candidate selection process for appointment of CEC and Election Commissioners.
However, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has opposed that that the independence of the Election Commission (EC) must also be ensured through an appropriate recruitment process, but should not only be stated in the constitution.
While briefing after the meeting Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Wednesday, Vice President of the National Consensus Commission, Prof Ali Riaz, made the disclosure.
Jamaat-e-Islami party argues that democracy is violated if there is no democratic process in place. Additionally, the Nationalist Communist Party (NCP) has called for the recruitment process to be included for all constitutional institutions.
This committee will also include the Deputy Speakers representing the opposition, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and a judge from the Appellate Division. Ali Riaz mentioned that the selection committee for Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioners will take the initiative to gather preferences and relevant information, in accordance with the legal framework for their appointment.
BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said, "In the past, we have emphasized that for every constitutional and statutory institution, the recruitment process should be transparent, accountable, and subject to a code of conduct. While we support that the issue of the Election Commission be specifically addressed in the constitution, we believe the overall recruitment processes should be included as well."
This committee will initiate a search process to identify candidates for the Election Commission. Civil society, political parties, and the general public will all have the opportunity to submit names for consideration. The structure of this search committee is proposed to be established through legislation enacted in Parliament. The committee will review the biographies of candidates and create a shortlist, which will then be sent to the selection committee. The selection committee may choose to unanimously recommend names of commissioners from this shortlist or consider additional candidates themselves.
Salahuddin Ahmed noted that originally, the proposal called for two names to be recommended for each position within the Election Commission. However, this current proposal has changed, and now only one name will be submitted for each position to the President. The tenure for Commissioners will be five years.
