Jatiya Party, the main opposition in the National Parliament, on Monday proposed for the enactment of a law as per the Constitution for the reconstitution of the Election Commission.
Unless it is not possible to enact a new law within the short period of time, the party demanded the reconstitution of the EC through a Presidential Ordinance.
The Jatiya Party came up with these demands during a dialogue with President Abdul Hamid Monday afternoon at the Bangabhaban, the residence of the President.
“We have demanded enactment of a law as per the constitution for the reconstitution of the Election Commission. Unless it is not possible to enact a new law within a short period of time, we have demanded reconstitution of the EC through a Presidential Ordinance,” said Jatiya Party chairman GM Quader immediately after coming out of the Bangabhaban in the evening.
GM Quader also said that they proposed some four to five names for the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Commissioners. But he declined to disclose those names at the time.
President Abdul Hamid on Monday started the process of dialogues with the political parties over the reconstitution of the EC.
On the first day, the dialogue was held with the Jatiya Party as the party is the main opposition in the National Parliament.
An eight-member delegation of Jatiya Party (JaPa) led by party chairman GM Quader took part in the dialogue with the President at the Bangabhaban at 4:00pm.
Other members of the delegation were Jatiya Party Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu, Opposition Chief Whip Moshiur Rahman Ranga, Jatiya Party Co-Chairman Syed Abu Hossain Babla, Senior Co-Chairman Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Co-Chairman Advocate Salma Islam, Co-Chairman Kazi Firoz Rashid and Co-Chairman ABM Ruhul Amin Hawladar.
According to sources, gradually the President will hold talks with the registered political parties before the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other commissioners. All the nine parties having representation in the parliament might be invited first.
The president is expected to hold talks with 31 out of 39 political parties registered with the EC.
The sources also said that after the Jatiya Party, the President is going to hold talks with Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) tomorrow (December 22), National Awami Party (NAP) and Samajtantrik Dal of Bangladesh on December 26, Tarikat-e Federation and Khelafat-e-Majlish on December 27, Workers Party of Bangladesh on December 28, Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) and Islami Oikya Jote on December 29.
The dates for the dialogues with other political parties are yet to be scheduled.
It should be mentioned that the president has to form a new EC before the expiration of the tenure of the existing EC on 14 February, 2022. The new EC will conduct the next national election.
According to the Constitution, a law has to be enacted to form the EC, but the law is yet to be enacted even after 50 years of independence.
This is the third time that a political dialogue is being held with the President regarding the reconstitution of the Election Commission.
For the first time, on December 22 in 2011, the then President late Zillur Rahman, held dialogues with the political parties, including the BNP, on the reconstitution of the Election Commission.
For the second time, President Abdul Hamid held a month-long dialogue with the political parties from December 18 in 2016 to January 18 in 2017. A total of 31 political parties took part in the dialogue at Bangabhaban in phases.
