BANGLADESH

The main opposition has dubbed the recommendations for election commissioners, handed over to the president by the search committee, as 'meaningless'.

"We feel, forming a new election commission is not the answer to the prevailing political crisis, instead formation of a non-partisan caretaker government holds the key," the party's standing committee member Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told as his instant reaction to Tuesday's submission of names.

"So, who mans the new EC or whom the search committee recommended is of no concern to us. We find it meaningless," the BNP leader added.

The search committee, formed to suggest names for the new election commissioners, in the evening recommended to the president that either former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder or ex-home secretary Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed be made the chief election commissioner.

The committee also proposed eight other names against the remaining four vacant posts of election commissioners to the president who will have the final say as per the constitutional provisions.

"We told the president during the dialogue that the announcement to hold the polls under a caretaker government has to come before formation of the new Election Commission," Musharraf pointed out.

"...there is no alternative to the polls being held under a non-partisan caretaker government to ensure fair and acceptable elections."

He added that this was one of the key reasons why his party did not contribute to the formation of the new EC.

"A neutral poll is no longer only BNP's demand, it has become a national demand. If anything is done bypassing this, then the people will not accept. On the contrary, it will only worsen the political crisis."

The president on Jan 22 formed the search committee, following a series of dialogues with political parties having representation in parliament, to reconstitute the commission. The tenure of the incumbent commission ends in the middle of this month.

It received the names from political parties until Dec 31. Ruling Awami League, Workers' Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal had sent names to the committee. But Jatiya Party, a key component of the ruling alliance, suggested no names.

The BNP-led four-party alliance had snubbed the committee, calling it unconstitutional.