“The government forms a search committee in such way that the committee picks people of its choice.”

Eminent Jurist Shahdeen Malik

There is no legal scope to appoint a chief election commissioner and election commissioners with recommendations from a search committee bypassing the country’s constitution, eminent citizens said yesterday.

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel.

They said it was unfortunate that there is still no specific law in the country to appoint the CEC and election commissioners, although there is a constitutional provision for enacting the law.

In the absence of the law, the president formed search committees in 2012 and 2017 to appoint the CEC and commissioners.

Jurists, election experts, academics and rights activists at a webinar titled “Election Commission Recruitment Laws and relevant thoughts” said such a search committee recommends election commissioners who are “party sycophants”.

As a result, the last two election commissions had utterly failed to perform their functions properly.

Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) also prepared a draft of the law.

The draft proposes a six-member search committee led by a retired chief justice and that the president appoints commissioners skilled in running an administration and those who are honest, righteous, neutral and have knowledge of legal matters.

Senior jurist Amir-Ul-Islam, member of the country’s constitution formulation committee, said everything related to formulation of a law should be done in line with Article 118 of the constitution.

According to Article 118 (1) of the constitution, “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 chief election commissioner and other election commissioners (if any) shall, subject to the provisions of any law made on that behalf, be made by the President.”

“There is limited scope for innovation [regarding formulation of the law] … we can look into the process followed by other countries,” Amir-Ul-Islam said.

Retired Justice MA Matin said a search committee chief should not be from among retired or sitting justices; instead, the chief should come from other fields and have experience and knowledge of elections and administration.

He proposed that the very name, “search committee”, should be changed as it has become controversial.

Another jurist, Shahdeen Malik, said, “The government is playing tricks with people in the name of search committee to appoint CEC and ECs. The president has no power to form a search committee as he has to consult with the prime minister regarding all matters except the appointment of the PM and the chief justice.”

“The government forms the search committee in such way that the committee picks people of its choice … If the EC is formed with this kind of search committee, it will fail to deliver,” he added.

As the five-year tenure of the current Election Commission will expire next February, many believe there is not enough time to pass a specific law to appoint ECs.

But Shahdeen said if the government and parliament desire, the law can be passed within a short time.

Shujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said the search committee is created on an ad hoc basis.

“These search committees are not comprised of party-neutral people and they select party sycophants as election commissioners. As a result, we have seen the last two commissions utterly fail to perform, become involved in different anomalies and contributed in creating a broken electoral system,” he added.

Shujan President M Hafizuddin Khan said the country’s electoral system has been completely destroyed.

“People are not satisfied with the performance of the two search committees. Elections are not fair and acceptable under the current commission. Voters do not want to vote because they think there is no benefit in voting,” he added.

Former EC Brig Gen (retired) Sakhawat Hussain said the law to appoint ECs should be prepared based on the constitution. Many South Asian countries have similar laws, he said.

“We prepared a draft of the law during our time and it was sent to the law ministry but it is unfortunate that there are no more discussions about it,” he added.

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder said there should be a shake-up in the governance and government system in order to hold a free and fair election.

Gonoshasthaya  Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury said the constitution is not a holy book that cannot be changed.

If necessary, the constitution can be changed all the time. He proposed anational government to oversee a national election.

Dhaka University Professor Asif Nazrul echoed the need for a law to form an election commission.

“But it is not possible for them to hold a free and fair election under the current government. We need to change the system of government during elections. It could be a caretaker government, interim government, or national government,” he added.

Among others, former Secretary Abdul Latif Mondal, rights activist Shireen Huq, renowned photographer Shahidul Alam, CEO of non-government organisation Brotee Sharmeen Murshid, journalist Ajoy Dasgupta, Communist Party of Bangladesh leader Ruhin Hossain Prince, Democracy International’s Abdul Alim, Article 19’s Faruk Faisel, Shujan leaders Prof Sekandar Khan and Zakir Hossain also took part in the discussion. 



Enact specific law to pick CEC, ECs
Source: Trend Viral Philippines