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Select Committee report being finalised

Awami League to vote for passage of BNP amendment bills

By Moinuddin Naser
Awami League leader and Chief Whip of the opposition tn parliament told The Daily Star on Thursday that his party and other opposition members would vote for the 11th and 12th Constitution amendment bills moved by the ruling BNP.
He indicated that the Select Committee decision on the bills was unanimous and it would submit a consensus report on the two bills.
The 11th Constitution amendment bill provides for sending back justice Shahabuddin Ahmed to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice and would ratify his appointment as Vice-President
The 12 th Constitution amendment bill seeks to revert to a parliamentary form of government.
The two bills are expected to be in the order of the day on Sunday and in all probability will be passed next week.
After the passage of the bill the President will call a referendum to ratify the basic change in the Constitution. The referendum is likely to be completed by the third week of August, according to informed sources
The Select Committee has finalised its report proposing more power to the President regarding dissolution of parliament.
It was resolved that the President may seek the leave of parliament before dissolving it after a request by the Prime Minister. If the President finds any party that commands the majority in parliament, other than the party in power, he may call It for the formation of the cabinet.
The Select Committee also agreed to leave the issue of the election of President to the Election Commission and drop the Fifth Schedule of the proposed bill by the Treasury Bench regarding procedure for the election of President.
The ruling party will move a separate bill in this regard.
Chief Whip of the Awami League Mohammad Nasim when contacted told The Daily Star that the Awami League would obviously vote for the bill
He said that the stand of the Awami League to elect a President through secret ballot by the Election Commission would be left for the House to decide.
A Select Committee source said that both the Awami League and the BNP had agreed that the matter be decided by the Election Commission as per the present constitutional arrangement.
Accordingly the Treasury Bench will have to bring another bill regarding the election of the President which can be passed
by a simple majority.
On this point the opposition Chief Whip told The Daily Star that it would oppose the bill but it would not create any deadlock for the BNP or to the election of the president. The BNP bill earlier proposed that the election of the president be conducted by the Speaker of Parliament while • the Awami League in the Second Schedule of its proposed bill opted for the president election by the Election Commission through secret ballot
The Select Committee, which almost worked as a liaison committee between the Leader of the House, and the Leader of the Opposition, also agreed that the Election Commission determine the procedure of the president election under the existing constitutional arrangements.
Hence the election of the president may be held openly or by secret ballot
It is learnt that the Awami League has also agreed to the proposal of the BNP that the ministers remain accountable to the Prime Minister and simultaneously to the House.
The issue of Inclusion of the non-MPs in the cabinet has been agreed to by the two parties in principle. But the percentage of the non-MPs In the cabinet will be determined by the House.
On the plugging of floorcrossing. the two sides have already agreed on certain principles. There will not be any provision for barring any member who loses his membership because of floorcrossing to contest the next election.Besides, if any political party gives its support to any party to form the government it may withdraw its support later, which would not be treated as floor-crossing as it was proposed in the BNP bill.
It is further learnt that the Awaml League has also agreed to keep the protective clause for the time being but it has decided to continue its pressure to withdraw all these protective clauses.
Rashed Khan Menon of Workers Party told The Daily Star that there would be no problem in the passing of the bill and that all the members in the Select Committee have taken an almost unanimous decision on all disputed Issues.
A BNP source told The Daily Star that it was expecting full support of the Awaml League and it hoped there would be no problems in the passage of the bill.
On the question of the eleventh amendment to the Constitution, ratifying the activities of the caretaker government all sides have reached a unanimous decision.
But they have also agreed that both the eleventh and twelfth Constitution amendment bills will be passed si multaneously
The Select Committee was busy In giving a final to^eh to Its report till the writing of this report.