‘Old wine in a new bottle’, GM Quader says on EC law

Jatiya Party (JaPa) Chairman and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad GM Quader has termed the Election Commission formation law, the bill on which was passed in the parliament Thursday, as "old wine in a new bottle".

"The law speaks about the formation of the Election Commission but the commission's authority has not been included in it. We think this point should have been included in the law or a separate law could be enacted on it," GM Quader said in a statement on Saturday.

The JaPa chief said his party thinks the provision for revealing the proposed names for the election commissioners and the chief election commissioner should be included in the law.

"If the law had the provision for amending the list of proposed names on the basis of public opinion, the selection process would have been more transparent," he added.

Referring to the constitution, Quader said the president has to seek the advice of the prime minister for almost every official task. As a result, the prime minister would have the opportunity to get someone appointed on her choice by the president.

Before the EC formation bill was passed, lawmakers of the BNP, Jatiya Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Workers Party criticised many aspects of it and proposed amendments to those.