JSD to meet president over EC formation

President Abdul Hamid this afternoon will sit with Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) at the Bangabhaban for a dialogue on the formation of a new Election Commission.  

A 12-member JSD delegation would meet him at 4:00pm, Shirin Akhtar, general secretary of JSD told The Daily Star.

The JSD will be the first political party, among the ruling Awami League-led 14-party grand alliance, to sit with President Hamid on the Election Commission formation.

Party insiders said the JSD would call upon the president to form a strong and independent EC and it would extend its support to the president's initiative.

Earlier, the president sat with the BNP on December 18, Jatiya Party on December 20, LDP and Krishak Sramik Janata League on December 22 over formation of the new EC.

The tenure of the current EC, led by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, expires in February next year. 

President Hamid is also scheduled to sit with Workers Party, a component of the grand alliance, on December 27, Bangladesh Nationalist Front and Islami Oikya Jote on December 29, Jatiya Party (Manju) on January 2 and Tarikat Federation and Bangladesh Jatiya Party, a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, on January 3, sources in the Bangabhaban said.