Ex-secy Nurul Huda new CEC

President also appoints four election commissioners including one woman

Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, chief of the search committee for constituting the next Election Commission, handing over the panel's report to President Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban yesterday. The other five panel members were also present.

Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee and Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Former secretary KM Nurul Huda has been chosen to lead the next Election Commission.

President Abdul Hamid appointed him chief election commissioner last night in line with a constitutional provision, according to a gazette notification issued around 10:00pm.

The president also appointed four election commissioners who include one woman for the first time. They are Mahbub Talukder, former additional secretary; Md Rafiqul Islam, ex-secretary; Begum Kabita Khanam, former district and sessions judge; and Brig Gen (retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury.

The oath-taking ceremony of the new EC would take place today or tomorrow, said sources at the Bangabhaban.

In his immediate reaction, the newly appointed CEC said, "I am grateful to the president for appointing me to this important constitutional position. I will try my best to carry out the responsibility impartially in line with the constitution."

Nurul Huda, a freedom fighter, told The Daily Star that he would devise a work strategy for the commission after consulting his colleagues.

"We will sit with the political parties because they are the most important stakeholders," he said, seeking cooperation from all political parties, civil society members as well as other stakeholders in performing his duties.

Earlier, Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam said Nurul Huda's name was not there in the proposals of the ruling Awami League and the BNP, submitted to the six-member search committee for constituting the next EC.

Of the commissioners, Mahbub's name was suggested by the BNP while Kabita's name was proposed by the AL, he told reporters at the Cabinet Division.

In the evening, the search panel met the president at the Bangabhaban, and proposed the names of Nurul Huda and ex-cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder for the CEC post.

Majumder was also recommended for the job in 2012 but the then president didn't pick him.

Born in 1948 in Patuakhali's Baufal, Nurul Huda completed his schooling in Patuakhali. He obtained his graduation and master's in Statistics from Dhaka University.

He also studied Public Administration and Advanced Studies at the University of Manchester, and pursued further studies in the then Soviet Union, he said.

Nurul Huda joined the 1971 Liberation War in Sector-9.