Ali Riaz, co-chairman of the National Consensus Commission, stated that all political parties in the country have reached a common position on reinstating the caretaker government and have developed a specific consensus on the matter.
He said, “Discussions have also taken place regarding the formation, structure, and jurisdiction of the caretaker government. Through open discussions on these issues, political parties have come much closer to an agreement.”
Professor Ali Riaz made these remarks during a press briefing on Wednesday at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka, following the eighth day of the second phase of discussions between the National Consensus Commission and political parties.
Commission members Justice Md Emdadul Haque, Safar Raj Hossain, Dr Badiul Alam Majumder and Dr Md Ayub Mia, and Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser Monir Haider were present at the meeting.
Apart from the caretaker government, discussions were also held on determining electoral constituency boundaries, where significant consensus was achieved, he added.
He mentioned that an agreement was reached on both immediate and long-term measures for delineating electoral constituencies. As an immediate measure, a specialised committee comprising appropriately skilled individuals will be formed with the assistance of the Election Commission to determine parliamentary constituencies for the 13th National Parliament elections based on the committee’s recommendations.
Regarding long-term measures, he said, “To determine parliamentary constituency boundaries after each census or at least every 10 years, a provision will be added to Article 119(1)(c) of the Constitution, specifying the formation of a specialised committee as determined by law.”
Representatives of 30 political parties, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), Gono Odhikar Parishad, Gonosanghati Andalon, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Biplobi Workers Party, Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party, participated in the discussion with the National Consensus Commission.
On Wednesday, discussions were held with political parties on the appointment committees for constitutional and statutory institutions and the election process for the upper house.
Further discussions between the commission and political parties are scheduled for July 3 at 10:30am.