Desk Report
Publish: 22 Jan 2022, 08:36 pm
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The much-talked-about Bill,
“Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners
Bill-2022”, will be placed in parliament on Sunday as the government wants to
have a law in this regard as per the Constitution.
According to the business
schedule of Sunday’s parliament sitting, Law Minister Anisul Haq will place the
draft law on the Election Commission formation.
After placing the proposed
law, the law minister will propose to send the bill to the parliamentary
standing committee on the respective ministry for scrutiny and submit it before
the House, according to a notice on parliament activities.
The Cabinet, in its Monday’s
meeting held at the Cabinet Room of the Jatiya Sangsad with Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina in the chair, cleared the draft Bill.
As per the proposed law, a search
committee will be formed taking approval from the President over the constitution
of the Election Commission.
The search committee will
recommend the names of suitable candidates before the President to appoint the
CEC and other election commissioners,” the Bill says.
The move came just one month
before the expiry of the five-year tenure of the incumbent Election Commission, led by
CEC KM Nurul Huda, as it is going to complete its five-year term in
mid-February.
Qualifications of CEC and
election commissioners are: they must be Bangladeshi citizens with minimum of 50
years of age, and have at least 20 years of work experience in important government,
semi-government, private, or judicial posts.
If a person is declared ‘insane’
by any court; has not been released from the jail after being declared as
‘bankruptcy’; acquires the citizenship of or affirms the allegiance to, a
foreign country surrendering Bangladeshi citizenship; has been convicted for a
criminal offense involving moral turpitude and sentenced to at least two-year
imprisonment; convicted by international crime tribunal, and is disqualified
for such posts by or under any law, he or she would not be eligible for the
post of CEC and election commissioners.
Ineligibilities
A person who once held the post of
CEC or the Chief Justice, would not be eligible for the post of the
CEC. But if a person held the post of election commissioner, he or she might be
considered for appointment to the CEC.
In order to give legal protection
to the constitution of previous election commissions, it would be considered
that these were made under this law, he said.
A justice of the Appellate
Division, nominated by the Chief Justice, will be the head of the six-member
search committee.
The five other members will be a
justice of the High Court Division nominated by the Chief Justice, the
Comptroller and Auditor General, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Public Service
Commission, two other personalities nominated by the President.
Though the Constitution suggests
the appointment of the CEC and other election commissioners under law, the
law was not formulated in the past.
Article 118 (1) of the
Constitution states, “There shall be an Election Commission for Bangladesh
consisting of 1[the Chief Election Commissioner and not more than four Election
Commissioners] and the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other
Election Commissioners (if any) shall, subject to the provisions of any law
made in that behalf, be made by the President.”
What done in the past
In the past, the President
appointed the CEC and commissioners in absence of the law.
The last two election
commissions, headed by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed and KM Nurul Huda, were
constituted through search committees formed by the President following his dialogues
with political parties.
The President picked the CEC and
four election commissioners in 2012 and 2017 from the names suggested by the
search committee.
This time, President Abdul Hamid
also started a dialogue with registered political parties on December 20 last
to discuss the issues related to the constitution of the Election Commission
ahead of the 12th general election to be held at the end of 2023 or the early
2024.
According to Article 118 (1) of
the Constitution, the Bill will be brought to give a legal shield to the
appointments of the CEC and elections commissioners to form the EC.
According to the sources at the
parliament secretariat, the parliamentary watchdog on the law ministry will not
be given much time for scrutiny of the Bill and to submit their report before
the House as the proposed legislation is likely to be passed in the ongoing
session of parliament and new election commissioners will be appointed in line
with the new law.
The tenure of the incumbent KM
Nurul Huda-led election commission will expire on February 14.
The cabinet approved the draft of appointing CEC and other election commissioners on January 17—the day the ruling Awami League-led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held a dialogue with President Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban on the formation of the next EC._UNB
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