Former secy Rafiqul Islam, ex-addl secy Mahbub Talukder, ex-sessions judge Kabita Khanam, Brig Gen (Retd) Shahadat Hossain new commissioners
Dhaka desk: Ending all speculations of the past few days, President Md Abdul Hamid yesterday appointed former secretary and freedom fighter KM Nurul Huda as the next chief election commissioner (CEC).
The president also appointed four other election commissioners — former secretary Rafiqul Islam, former additional secretary Mahbub Talukder, former district and sessions judge of Rajshahi Kabita Khanam and Brig Gen (Retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury – for a five-year term.
The president formed the new five-member Election Commission (EC) out of 10 suggested by the search committee from among the 128 names proposed by different political parties which held dialogues with the president on the reconstitution of the EC.
The Cabinet Division also issued a gazette notification shortly before Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam announced the names through a briefing at the Bangladesh Secretariat around 9:30pm.
Shafiul said suggestions of almost all major political parties were reflected in the new EC.
He also told journalists that the search committee, formed by the president and given 10 working days to recommend 10 names for the new EC, worked independently without any interference from any quarters.
The search panel suggested 10 names for the next EC in consultation with political parties and civil society members. The remaining 5 names were former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder for CEC and local government expert Prof Tofael Ahmed, pro-vice chancellor of Bangladesh University of Professional Dr Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, former Planning Commission member Abdul Mannan and Dhaka University professor Dr Zarina Rahman Khan.
The EC in consultation with the chief justice will fix the schedule for oath of the new EC. The tenure of the incumbent EC expires tomorrow.
The new CEC, Nurul Huda, a 1973 batch admin cadre official who hails from Patuakhali district was sacked by then BNP-led 4-party alliance government in 2001. He was then a joint secretary.
However, the Awami League government in 2009 promoted him to secretary with retrospective effect on the basis of seniority.
The search committee earlier in the evening submitted 10 names to the President for forming the next EC.
The names were finalised at the last and fourth meeting of the search committee, held at the judges' lounge of the Supreme Court. It was presided over by the committee's chairman, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain.
The names of two former secretaries, KM Nurul Huda and Ali Imam Majumder, were proposed for the post of CEC.
Sources in the search committee said that during its last meeting it telephoned the 10 people before finalising their names for forming the next EC.
After the meeting, the spokesman of the search committee and additional secretary in the Cabinet Division, Md Andul Wadud, told reporters that the panel had finalised 10 names. “The names will be submitted to the President at 6.30pm. He will take the final call,” he added.
