Following a political changeover, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Thursday announced the resignation of the five-member commission, just a month after the fall of Sheikh Hasina led government amid a mass upsurge.
With proposals of holding general elections under the caretaker government and taking votes in phases, the CEC, which was formed during the AL regime through a search committee, made the announcement at a half way of the tenure of the commission at a press conference at the Election Commission Secretariat.
“In this changed situation, the other commissioners and I have decided to step down. We are handing over our resignation letters to the Election Commission secretary to send it to the President,” he said.
The four election commissioners are Brig Gen (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan, Begum Rashida Sultana, Mohammad Alamgir and Anisur Rahman. Election Commissioners Rashida and Anisur were not present at the briefing. Both Anisur and Rashida told reporters that they resigned from their respective posts.
Meanwhile, President Mohammed Shahabuddin has accepted the resignation letters of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal and the four other Election Commissioners (ECs).
The Awal commission broke silence for the first time since the ousting of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted on August 5. Even, it refrained from taking any initiative to conduct any local body election in the last one month.
The commission drew strong criticism from various quarters, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other political parties for holding one-sided general election on January 7 paving ways for Awami League to assume office for the fourth consecutive term. Opposition political parties also raised questions on different local body elections held under his
commission. At the briefing, Habibul Awal proposed holding the general election in phases under a non-partisan caretaker government to achieve the desired goal.
He also proposed holding the party-wise proportional representation election and ensuring the optimum use of technology in the election.
“We think it is our duty to place some proposals in light of our experience, knowledge and understanding, gleaned from the present and past, for the consideration of the government in future,” he said.
Placing the first proposal, he said, “Bangladesh can be an ideal field for proportional representation (party-based) elections due to the homogeneity of the population of Bangladesh.”
The (national) election can be held in four or eight phases with a 3-5-day gap between the two phases, which will be easy and helpful and for electoral management, the outgoing CEC said in the second proposal.
Raising the third proposal, he said it would be better if the optimised use of technology can be ensured in the electoral process, continuing the online nomination submission system introduced by them.
In the final proposal, Habibul Awal said if each general election is held under a non-partisan caretaker government, the goal will be achieved.
“We are hopeful that the promise of student uprising for building a more beautiful Bangladesh through reforms will be realised soon and the administration, justice and election system will be outstanding in the future,” he said, expressing his gratitude to the journalists for their cooperation in conducting their election duties in the past.
Former secretary Habibul Awal took the charge of the commission on February 27 in 2022.
The commission was constituted through a search committee for the first time under a law mandated by the constitution.
The search committee held a series of meetings with eminent citizens and civil society representatives and sought names from the registered political parties for the posts.
A number of political parties, including Awami League, gave the names but BNP and some other political parties did not send any name to the search committee.
During the briefing, many people were seen demonstrating in front of the EC Secretariat. They also threw shoes targeting the vehicles carrying the commissioners when they were going out of the office.
This is not the first incident in Bangladesh that the whole commission resigned before the completion of the tenure.
After the 1/11 political changeover in 2007, army-backed caretaker government led by Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed assumed office and Justice MA Aziz led commission had to resign before the completion of their tenure.
Of the CECs, Justice Mohammad Idris, Chowdhury ATM Masud, MA Sayeed, Shamsul Huda, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed and Nurul Huda completed their tenure.
It is not clear yet what will be the tenure of the incumbent interim government which took office on August 8 and when the next general elections will be held.
A new EC has to be constituted for holding the next general elections as the Awal led commission has resigned.
