Online Desk : The search committee has opened discussions with eminent citizens as part of its efforts to scope out the most suitable candidates for the next Election Commission.

Two groups of 20 citizens from various walks of life were invited to take part in separate meetings at the Supreme Court`s Judges` Lounge on Saturday.

The first meeting, which started at 11:15 am, was attended by most of the invitees but some of them were not seen.

Former attorneys general AFM Hasan Arif and Fida M Kamal, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Yusuf Hossain Humayun, senior lawyers Mansurul Haque Chowdhury, Rokanuddin Mahmud and Shahdeen Malik, former additional attorney general MK Rahman, former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder, Dhaka University Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Maksud Kamal, Prof Borhan Uddin Khan and Prof Asif Nazrul of DU`s Law Department, President of the Asiatic Society Mahfuza Khanam, CEO of non-governmental organisation Brotee Sharmeen Murshid and President of the Fair Election Monitoring Alliance (FEMA) Munira Khan were in attendance.

The search committee then sat down with another group of eminent citizens at 1pm.

Golam Rahman, editor of the Bangla daily Ajker Patrika, Zafrullah Chowdhury of Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Abed Khan, editor of daily Jagaran, Saiful Alam, editor of Jugantar, Shyamal Dutta, editor of Bhorer Kagoj, AK Azad, managing director of Channel 24, Farida Yasmin, president of the Jatiya Press Club, Mozammel Babu of Ekattor Television, Tasmima Hossain, acting editor of daily Ittefaq, Zahirul Alam, news editor of NTV and journalist Swadesh Roy attended the meeting.

The search committee is set to hold discussions with a total of 60 distinguished citizens, including lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats, doctors, researchers and election monitoring organisations.

The final meeting is scheduled for Sunday.

The six-member search committee is headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan. The other members of the EC search committee are Justice SM Kuddus Zaman, Comptroller and Auditor General Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Bangladesh Public Service Commission Chairman Sohorab Hossain, former election commissioner Sohul Hussain and fiction writer Anwara Syed Haq.

The Cabinet Division announced six appointments to the search committee on Feb 5 after the passage of the law on the appointment of election commissioners in parliament in late January.

The law requires the committee to propose a list of 10 nominees to the president within 15 working days from its formation, with two candidates for each of the five positions, including that of the chief election commissioner.

The president will then form the 13th Election Commission by picking candidates from the list.

The tenure of the current KM Nurul Huda-led commission will end on Feb 14.

The committee is under a duty to carry out its responsibilities impartially and transparently.

It will nominate a chief commissioner and commissioners according to the requisite qualifications, prohibitions, experience, skills and reputation, as stated by the law.

Source: bdnews24.com