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Bangladesh is finally going to have a legal framework for selecting the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners as parliament passed the “Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners Bill-2022” on Thursday.
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haq moved the Bill and it was passed by voice vote.
Law Minister Anisul Huq placed the Bill in parliament on January 23 seeking to give a legal shield to the current and previous Election Commissions formed through search committees. It was sent to the respective scrutiny committee for deeper examination.
On Wednesday, chairman of the committee M Shahiduzzaman Sarker placed the committee report with some changes in the original Bill
Once assented by the president, the law will provide legal cover to all activities of the search committees.
The government move came nearly 50 years after the constitution prescribed enacting a specific law for forming the EC.
Eligibility
The qualification of CEC and election commissioners, after the recommendation from the Parliamentary Committee, is that they must be Bangladeshi citizens with minimum 50 years of age, and have at least 20 years of work experience in important government, semi-government, private or judicial posts, autonomous and other professions.
Ineligibility
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 offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced 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.
A person once held the post of CEC or the Chief Justice, he or she 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, the Bill says.
Search Committee
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 eminent personalities including one woman nominated by the President.
Though the Constitution suggests the appointment of the CEC and other election commissioners under a 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.”
The tenure of the incumbent commission, led by CEC KM Nurul Huda, expires next month.
BNP’s Protests
BNP MP Harunur Rashid, however, strongly opposed the Bill and said this law is a government ploy to execute its new strategy over the next national election. “People think that the government is making mockery in the name of enacting the EC law.”
He also mentioned that there is not much discrepancy between this law and the gazette on formation of the search committee in 2017. “One of the qualifications for inclusion in the search committee is to be loyal to the government. If the heads of constitutional bodies are given the responsibility of the search committee, they will also be disputed.”
Harun said that people are disappointed with the proposed law and do not want it.
Lambasting the law minister for enacting such a law, Rumeen Farhana of BNP said the president, according to the constitution, is bound to act on the advice of the prime minister.
The president cannot do anything independently except appointing the prime minister and the chief justice. “But the president has been mentioned in the Bill to make an illusion,” she added.
