The BNP will urge the president to include at least two names from its list of potential members of the search committee which would be formed for constituting the new Election Commission.

Party leaders said they would make the request to President Abdul Hamid during talks with him at the Bangabhaban on December 18.

"We might recommend some names to the honourable president for formation of the search committee," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star yesterday.

Party sources said it was considering the names of four former chief justices.

According to a senior BNP leader, the party would discuss a polls-time government for holding a free, fair and inclusive national election if the president responded "positively" during the talks.

"If we find the president sincere, we would talk about absence of democracy, law and order, repression and filing of false cases against opposition men, apart from formation of the Election Commission," added the leader.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has already tasked some senior party leaders with making a recommendation to her about potential members of the search committee and the party's strategy and issues for the December 18 talks.

Khaleda on Tuesday night had a closed-door meeting with some senior party leaders at her Gulshan office.

"We need to hold another two to three meetings to finalise our strategy for the talks," BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed told this newspaper yesterday.

Another standing committee member, who was present in Tuesday night's meeting, said their dialogue with the president would be based on the BNP chief's proposal on formation of the EC.

Khaleda at a press conference in the capital on November 18 had placed a proposal for constituting the new EC.

Meanwhile, the BNP is scheduled to send the names of its 10 delegation members to the president by today.

The president on Monday invited five registered political parties to discuss formation of the new EC as the tenure of the incumbent commission would expire in February next year.

The president will hold talks with the Jatiya Party on December 20, and Liberal Democratic Party, a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, and Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League on December 21.

Forty political parties are registered with the EC. The registration of Jamaat-e-Islami was scrapped in line with a High Court verdict.

JSD WANTS REVISED RESCHEDULE

The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) yesterday sent a letter to the president for fixing a fresh schedule for its meeting with him, citing unavailability of its chief on December 22.

JSD General Secretary Shirin Akhter said party chief Hasanul Huq Inu would be staying abroad on that day to attend an OIC programme.

The JSD will submit proposals to the president for setting up a strong and dynamic EC, she told The Daily Star.