Staff Correspondent

The National Consensus Commission (NCC) is facing challenges in reaching a consensus over three significant reform issues -- the appointment of the election-time caretaker government chief, the formation of the upper house and the election system for 100 reserved seats for women.

Though Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami offered almost similar proposals about it, particularly the selection process of its chief adviser, the NCC could not reach a final decision yet over the issue due to differences from some other political parties including National Citizen Party-NCP.

The Commission is now working to build political consensus on 19 key constitutional reform issues by July 31 in a bid to prepare a national charter (reform charter), but the progress of the second-round dialogue is delayed due to differences among the political parties over the three issues.

To overcome the impasse, the Commission presented revised proposals several times particularly on the caretaker government system and the structure of the proposed upper house.

Caretaker Government

Though the political parties earlier reached a consensus over the restoration of the caretaker government to oversee the national election and its other matters including its tenure, but disagreed over the selection process of the chief adviser.

BNP earlier proposed five options to select the chief of the caretaker government, while Jamaat placed three alternative proposals in this regard.

But the two major parties have recently placed their respective revised proposals to select the chief adviser. There is no major difference between their positions over the issue.

BNP, in its revised proposal submitted to the NCC on Monday last, suggested forming a four-member search committee composed of the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Speaker and the Deputy Speaker (from the opposition). The committee would select the Chief Adviser based on consensus from ten names –--five each nominated by both the ruling and opposition parties. If consensus is not reached, the party proposed following the relevant process outlined in the 13th amendment of the Constitution, excluding the provision where the President would head the caretaker government as the last option.

Jamaat, in its final revised proposal, recommended a five-member search committee including a representative from the third largest party in Parliament in addition to the four members proposed by BNP. They suggested the ruling and main opposition parties nominate three candidates each, the third largest party two names, and other parties or independents one name each. In case of failure to reach consensus, Jamaat also proposed the process outlined in the 13th Amendment dropping the option for the President to take the charge.

Both the parties viewed that the selection of the caretaker chief should be based on the consensus within the search committee.

About the Jamaat’s views for formation a five-member search committee, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed at a press briefing on Tuesday last showed flexibility over the formation of the search committee, saying that the search committee could be comprised of five persons by including a representative from the third-largest party in Parliament.

However, several other parties, including NCP objected to reviving the appointment process outlined in the 13th Amendment, citing previous controversies. Many instead advocated for a ranked-choice voting system within the search committee to appoint the caretaker chief.

NCP proposed a ranked-choice voting system in the appointment process to ensure a neutral and acceptable caretaker government.

Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher on Tuesday said the selection of the chief adviser of the caretaker government should be made based on consensus not the simple majority. "We don't want a process where distrust is created between political parties. Rather, we need to reach an acceptable solution through discussion," he said.

NCC’s Proposal

The NCC proposed a five-member search committee similar to Jamaat’s structure. Every political party and independent MP would be asked to nominate one eligible name. If consensus fails, each of the ruling and main opposition parties would propose three names, and the third-largest party would nominate two.

Under this formula, the ruling party would pick one name from the opposition's list and one from the third-largest party’s nominations. The opposition would do the same. The third-largest party would pick one from each of the ruling and opposition party lists. If consensus is reached on any of the selected names, that person will be appointed Chief Adviser. Otherwise, a ranked-choice voting system will be used.

Prof Riaz while briefing reporters on Tuesday last said many parties are unwilling to involve the judiciary — especially retired chief justices — and instead favour ranked-choice voting. There is also strong opposition to reviving the appointment process mentioned in the 13th amendment, he added.

“In fact, we’re somewhat stuck on how the search committee will make decisions and resolve deadlocks (to select the chief adviser). We’ve requested parties to reconsider their stances,” Prof Riaz said expressing optimism that the parties would submit their revised opinions.

Upper House Formation and Women seats:

Almost all political parties, including BNP, Jamaat, and NCP, supported establishing a bicameral parliament comprising a 100-seat Upper House and a 400-seat Lower House, along with increasing the number of reserved seats for women in the Lower House to 100 from the existing 50.

However, there are differences of opinion between BNP and Jamaat on the method of election.

Jamaat suggested electing members of both the Upper House and the reserved women’s seats in the Lower House based on proportional representation (PR) of votes, while BNP proposed using PR based on the number of MPs or Lower House members.