In a major development, the interim government yesterday formed a six-member search committee led by Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, to constitute a new Election Commission.

The other members of the committee are Justice AKM Asaduzzaman, a judge of the High Court Division; Nurul Islam, comptroller and auditor general (CAG); Mobasser Momen, chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission; eminent personalities CR Abrar, executive director of the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit, and Prof Zeenatun Nesa Tahmida Begum, former Dhaka University teacher and ex-PSC chairman, according to government sources.

In line with the Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act 2022, two judges were nominated by the chief justice, two eminent personalities by the president, and the CAG and BPSC chairman are in the committee because of their job status.

The government may issue a gazette containing the names of the search committee members "once the chief adviser signs it" in a day or two, Law Adviser Prof Asif Nazrul told reporters after a meeting with Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, at the Secretariat.

Asif Nazrul said the chief adviser might have even signed the gazette by then.

The development comes amid BNP and some other parties calling for a roadmap to the 13th national election.

Asif Nazrul said, "The interim government has begun its journey towards the next general election. The search committee for constituting a new Election Commission has been formed.

"Previous national elections were fake. So, there is not much to talk about the voter list. The voter list will be updated, and it'll be done through a transparent process. The interim government will hold a proper election."

Asked when the election will be held, he said, "It will depend on a number of factors."

According to the law, once a search committee is formed, it takes no longer than 15 work days to propose to the president the names of 10 individuals, two for each membership of the Election Commission. The president then picks the chief election commissioner and four election commissioners and forms the EC.

The posts of election commissioners fell vacant after chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and four election commissioners resigned on September 5, just a month after a mass uprising led to the fall of the Hasina-led government.

According to Appointments of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Act 2022, the president forms a six-member search committee led by an Appellate Division judge nominated by the chief justice.

A judge of the High Court Division nominated by the chief justice, the comptroller and auditor general, the chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission, two other eminent personalities, including a woman, nominated by the president are to be members of the committee. The search committee can seek names from the political parties and professional bodies.

Yesterday's move comes amid calls from election experts and organisations like Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik for reforms to the law.

Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar, also the head of the government-formed commission to reform the electoral system, yesterday told this newspaper that the commission was ready to hand over its proposals on the law to constitute the EC.

BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman yesterday said his party always attached the highest importance to ensuring people's voting rights.

"Through voting rights, citizens of the country can claim their ownership to the state," he said.

Jamaat spokesperson Matiur Rahman said his party deemed the existing law "faulty".

"The search committee should have been formed after amending the law," he said.

Meanwhile, at least two members of the commission to reform the election system said formation of the search committee took them by surprise.

In 2012, 2017, and 2022, the then presidents formed search committees and then held dialogues with political parties over the formation of the ECs.

After those committees made recommendations, the presidents appointed the election commissioners.

The Kazi Habibul Awal-led Election Commission, formed in 2022, was widely criticised after it held the election shunned by the major opposition parties early this year.

The AL fielded dummy independent candidates, many of whom were AL leaders, to make the polls appear participatory.

The KM Nurul Huda-led commission held the December 2018 election with opposition parties alleging ballot-box stuffing the night before election day.

In January 2019, the Jatiya Oikya Front alleged that between 30 and 60 percent of the votes were cast the night before.

The same month, Transparency International Bangladesh in a study found that ballot-stuffing took place the night before election day at multiple centres in 33 of the 50 surveyed constituencies.

The Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad-led commission held a one-sided national election in January 2014, in which 153 lawmakers out of 300 were elected unopposed.

The AL-led alliance won all three elections.

VACANT EC

The EC has been vacant for 53 days, the longest ever.

In 2007, following the resignation of then CEC Justice MA Aziz and six commissioners, the ECs remained vacant for a week.

Aziz resigned a day before the highly controversial January 22 election. Then Justice Mahfuzur Rahman took over as the acting CEC. All five members resigned on January 31.

ATM Shamsul Huda was appointed as the new CEC on February 5.

After the Kazi Rakibuddin-led EC's tenure ended on February 9, 2017, the next commission led by KM Nurul Huda took the office on February 15.

The led by Habibul was formed 12 days after that commission completed its tenure in 2022.