Fifty-three eminent citizens on Saturday demanded enactment of a law to appoint the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners as the tenure of the current top brass of the commission will end in February 2022.
In a statement, they said that the initiative to reconstitute the Election Commission must begin immediately with the enactment of a law as per the constitution.
‘We urge the government to take an urgent move in this regard to enable the Election Commission to take necessary lawful steps for conducting elections independently and without any outside influence,’ they said in the statement.
‘At the same time, we also urge the government to start thinking of reforms so the civil administration and the law enforcement agencies can impartially perform their duties during elections,’ it said.
Dhaka University professor emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury, jurists M Amir-ul Islam and Shahdeen Malik, former judge Justice Abdul Matin, economists Akbar Ali Khan, Debapriya Bhattacharya and Anu Muhammad, governance campaigners M Hafizuddin Khan, Badiul Alam Majumdar and Shaheen Anam, Dhaka University professor Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation clinical neuroscience centre director Professor Naila Zaman Khan and rights activists Hamida Hossain and Nur Khan Liton, among others, signed the statement.
The statement stated that article 118 (1) of the constitution stipulates, ‘There shall be an Election Commission for Bangladesh consisting of the chief election commissioner and not more than four election commissioners and the appointment of the CEC and other commissioners [if any] shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf, be made by the president.’
They said that no government had taken such an initiative in the last 50 years, although the constitution clearly directed the appointments to the Election Commission ‘subject to the provisions of any law’.
The statement said that the proposed law must specify the qualifications of the CEC and other ECs.
It also said that the proposed law would include a provision for the formation of a ‘search committee’ with non-partisan individuals acceptable to all related stakeholders and distinguished people to appoint the CEC and ECs.
They said that to ensure transparency of the appointment, the proposed law must include provisions for making public the names of individuals being considered for appointment to the Election Commission, holding public hearings and publishing a report providing a rationale for recommending the individuals to the president for an appointment.
The eminent citizens hoped that the law ministry would take the appropriate initiative in this regard.
‘We, as citizens, stand ready to provide the necessary assistance through feedback,’ the statement said.
