President Abdul Hamid has appointed former defence secretary Kazi Habibul Awal as the new Chief Election Commissioner.

The Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification in this regard on Saturday.

Four other election commissioners are Brigadier General Ahsan Habib Khan (retd), former district and sessional judge Begum Rashida Sultana , former senior secretary Mohammad Alamgir and former senior secretary Anisur Rahman.

Kazi Habibul Awal, a law professor at Brac University, joined the Ministry of Defence as Secretary on 3 March 2014.

Then he was appointed as senior secretary in the same ministry on 1 December 2014. He retired on 20 January 2015.

Also read: President Hamid receives 10 names for EC proposed by search committee

He was reappointed as senior secretary in the Ministry of Defence on 21 January 2015.

On Thursday, President Abdul Hamid received the names of 10 individuals recommended by the search committee to be appointed in the next five-member Election Commission at Bangabhaban.

Two names were proposed for each post.

He said the chosen names will soon be published through gazette notification.

The search committee held a series of meetings with eminent citizens and civil society representatives since its formation early this month. It also received names from most of the 39 registered political parties, including ruling Awami League.

Main opposition BNP and several others did not send any names.

This is the first time an election commission is being formed under a law mandated by the constitution. The law on the appointment of the CEC and other commissioners was passed by the parliament on January 27.

The tenure of the immediate past EC, led by KM Nurul Huda, expired on February 14 amid allegations of inefficient handling of the 2018 parliamentary polls and the recent violence-marred UP elections.

Also read: Outgoing CEC, election commissioners call on President Hamid

The search committee was led byJustice Obaidul Hassan of the Appellate Division.

And other members were Justice SM Quddus Zaman, Auditor General and Controller of Bangladesh Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Bangladesh Public Service Commission Chairman Md Sohrab Hossain, and former election commissioner Muhammad Sohul Hossain and author Anwara Syed Haque were present.