New CEC: Ex-secretary for sure?

The search committee is likely to pick two former secretaries from a list of five for the post of chief election commissioner in the next Election Commission.

The final decision in this regard may come at a meeting of the six-member committee at 5:00pm today at the Supreme Court Judges' Lounge. The panel, however, was yet to decide whether it would make the names public, one of its members said on condition of anonymity.

The five names discussed by the panel are M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, former cabinet secretary; MA Karim, ex-principal secretary to the prime minister; Shaikh Wahiduzzaman, former principal secretary to the PM; Ikram Ahmed, ex-chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission; and Nurul Huda, ex-inspector general of police, said the panel member.

The Daily Star, however, could not verify this independently.

Pointing out the reason behind preferring ex-bureaucrats for the CEC post, the panel member said bureaucrats have experience of working at upazila, district and division levels. This would prove helpful in discharging the duties of the CEC, who needs to have control over the field-level administration.

For the posts of election commissioner, the panel has discussed, among others, the names of Jesmin Tuli, ex-additional secretary to the EC; Kabita Khanam, a former judge; Nur Mohammad, former IGP; and AT Ahmedul Huq Choudhury, former chairman of the PSC. Some former army officials may also be recommended, according to the panel member.

Talking to this newspaper yesterday, Joynal Abedin, press secretary to the president, said the panel is scheduled to meet President Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban at 6:30pm today.

All the commissioners would be below 70, he added.

In 2012, the then search committee proposed the names of two ex-bureaucrats -- Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed, former parliament affairs secretary, and Ali Imam Majumder, ex-cabinet secretary -- for the CEC post. The then president Zillur Rahman picked Rakibuddin.

The tenure of the Rakibuddin-led EC expires on Wednesday.

On January 25, President Abdul Hamid formed the search panel, headed by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, after holding talks with 31 political parties on EC formation.

According to a gazette notification issued that day, the panel would recommend two names each for the posts of CEC and four election commissioners. And it would present its recommendations to the president in 10 working days.

On the PM's advice, the president would then appoint the CEC and the commissioners.

In its first meeting on January 28, the search committee requested 31 political parties to propose five names each for the posts of CEC and commissioners by January 31.

The panel then shortlisted 20 names from 125 names proposed by 26 political parties. It, however, didn't disclose the names.

Most of the political parties proposed names of former bureaucrats for the CEC post.

Unlike the previous search committee, this panel held meetings with civil society members to get their views on EC formation.

Headed by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, the search panel includes Justice Obaidul Hassan, a High Court judge; Muhammed Sadique, chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission; Masud Ahmed, comptroller and auditor general of Bangladesh; Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam, trustee board member of Transparency International Bangladesh; and Shireen Akhter, pro-vice chancellor of Chittagong University.