All eyes are now on Bangabhaban. Search committee will submit the list of the potential names for the CEC and four ECs to the President this evening.
President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin said the search committee tasked with shortlisting the President to assist in the formation of a strong and credible Election Commission would hand over their shortlisted list to the President at Bangabhaban on Thursday evening.
He said the President would finalize the names of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four other election commissioners from the list in the light of the 'Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Appointment Act-2022'.
The Bangabhaban spokesperson further said that the names of the new Election Commission are expected to be announced soon.
Earlier, cabinet secretary Khandokar Anwarul Islam, who was doing the secretarial job said the committee had finalized the names of ten possible candidates. The list includes two candidates for the post of CEC and eight candidates for the post of Election Commissioner.
The cabinet secretary added that the search committee had compiled a list of ten names from the proposed names.
Other members of the EC Search Committee headed by Justice Obaidul Hasan of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court are Justice SM Quddus of the High Court Division, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Chairman Public Service Commission (PSC) Mohammad Sohrab Hossain, former Election Commissioner Mohammad Sohul Hossain and writer Professor Anwar Syed Haque.
During its tenure, the committee itself held seven meetings and held meetings with 47 eminent persons to seek advice on the formation of the EC. The Cabinet Division published the names of 322 people on the website on February 14. These include names of political personalities, professional organizations and individuals.
The names of some people are found more than once by checking and sorting the list. After the scrutiny, there were 315 names in the list. Later the names were reduced to 50, then 20 and finally 10.
Several parties, including the BNP and the CPB, did not submit any list of names to the search committee.
The President initially held a dialogue with the registered political parties with the aim of forming an EC, but the BNP and a few other political parties did not participate in the dialogue.
Meanwhile, almost all political parties, including the ruling Awami League, and the main opposition party in the Jatiya Sangsad, the Jatiya Party (JP), took part in the dialogue. They proposed the enactment of new legislation to ensure a strong and credible EC for holding free, fair and credible general elections in the coming days.
On January 27, the law was passed in the JS amidst heated discussions and criticism. Later, on February 5, the President constituted a six-member EC search committee under the Act.