Bringing all parties to poll a big challenge: Newly-appointed CEC   

Newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal has said ensuring the participation of all political parties in the election is a big challenge for the new commission.

"In order to make the election acceptable, it is necessary to make it participatory," he told the media on Saturday after being appointed as the  head of the five-member new Election Commission.

The former senior secretary said he will try to carry out his responsibility with sincerity and devotion.

President Abdul Hamid finalised the five-member new Election Commission headed by the ex-defence secretary.

This is the first time that an election commission was formed through a search committee under the election commission (EC) formation law, passed in parliament on 27 January.

The four election commissioners are: former District and Session judge Begum Rashida Sultana, Brigadier General (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan and former senior secretaries Md Alamgir and Anisur Rahman, according to a gazette issued on Saturday.

"A responsibility has been given and I will try to fulfil it with sincerity and devotion. After taking charge, I will sit with the other members of the commission and decide on the modus operandi," Kazi Habibul Awal said.

"In order to make the election acceptable, it is necessary to make it participatory," the new CEC told the media on Saturday.

He said he will try to carry out his responsibility with sincerity and devotion.

The new CEC, who joined government service as an assistant judge in 1981 through the Bangladesh Civil Service (Judicial), said that the first big challenge for the commission was to bring the major political parties, including the BNP, to the polls.  

He said he wanted to inspire confidence in those parties, adding that the EC does not conduct elections alone as there are many stakeholders. A good election could only be held with everyone's cooperation.

Noting the important role of the media in the elections, Kazi Habibul said, "I will seek the cooperation of the media in this regard. There will be utmost efforts to make this an acceptable election. And I expect everyone's cooperation."

The new CEC has already had a long career in government service. After his stint as an assistant judge, he served as a district judge in different districts and joined the legislative drafting wing of the ministry as joint secretary in 2000, before being promoted to additional secretary in 2003.

He then joined the defence ministry as secretary in 2014.

Later, he was appointed as the senior secretary in the same ministry on 1 December, 2014. He retired on 20 January, 2015.

He was then reappointed as senior secretary in the defence ministry on 21 January, 2015.

Of the election commissioners, Rashida Sultana served as District and Sessions judge, Brigadier General (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan was the director general of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, MD Alamgir was a senior secretary at the EC and Anisur Rahman a senior secretary at the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.

Contacted, new Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said, "I didn't know anything beforehand. Now that I have the responsibility, I will be careful to perform in a manner that is acceptable to all. I want to work with everyone.

"After the swearing-in, everyone in the commission will sit in a meeting, where we will decide how to proceed. I can say more after that," he said.

The chief justice will take the oaths of the EC members at the Supreme Court Judges lounge today.

The nominations for the commission were finalised by shortlisting 320 candidates in seven separate meetings of the search panel. The committee also held four meetings with eminent citizens and journalists, many of whom repeatedly called for making the list public.

Later, the panel published the initial list of 322 candidates but refrained from publishing the final picks, saying it did not have the legal authority to do so.

The EC search committee handed over the final list of 10 candidates to the president in a meeting at the Bangabhaban on 24 February.

Earlier in 2013 and 2017, search committees were established to form the Election Commission, but both were not made under any law.

'A non-transparent process'

Terming the shortlisting as non-transparent, eminent Jurist Shahdeen Malik said, "We do not know the persons who were appointed to the EC.

"That is why we demanded that the shortlist be published and to explain why the specific candidates were chosen. I also demanded to know who suggested the names for the list. But none of this was done," Malik said, adding that as he did not know the candidates, it was difficult to see what kind of commission this was going to be.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of the BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir maintained that the party was not interested in the formation of the EC

The BNP had earlier boycotted the talks with the president over the formation of a search committee for the EC.

Fakhrul said, "It's not just the EC. The Awami League will do everything using only its own people. So we have no interest in the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners. We have no interest in the Election Commission."

Contacted, local government expert Tofail Ahmed, said, "We do not know with whom the commission was formed. Now that it has been formed, we hope it will at the very least fulfil its constitutional obligations properly. Then they will be praised, something that did not happen for the two previous commissions."

Awami League Joint General Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim expressed confidence in the newly-formed EC.

"We believe that the Election Commission is one of the most important institutions for the continuity and strengthening of democracy and for strengthening the electoral system. We need to have confidence and trust in it. The Election Commission, newly appointed by the president, will conduct free, fair and transparent elections," he said.