Criticising the search committee for reconstitution of the election commission, former caretaker government adviser Dr Akbar Ali Khan has said that the body was not successful as it picked commissioners from among the given names.
He made the remarks while attending the inauguration of a debate competition at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation on Saturday morning.
The noted economist also observed that, in the past ten years, no search committee has proposed a name that was beyond predictable.
“Those who do not belong to any political parties or who are beyond dispute should be selected as election commissioners,” he opined.
Akbar Ali said it was not an easy task for the search committee to select members for as powerful a body of the government as the election commission.
In this case, he said that the US system was a comparatively better example as the US government nominates the names first and then discusses the matter in parliament.
Following the recommendations of the search committee, President Abdul Hamid on February 6 appointed former bureaucrat KM Nurul Huda as the next chief election commissioner (CEC) of Bangladesh. Four other commissioners were also appointed from the 10 names submitted by the search body.
Debate for Democracy and ATN Bangla jointly organised the inauguration of the debate competition in association with United Commercial Bank.
UCB Chairman MA Sabur also spoke at the inauguration.
Thirty two universities are going to take part in the yearlong debate session.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
