The BNP on Sunday submitted its proposals to the National Consensus Commission on key recommendations from five reform commissions.   The party submitted its written proposals on reforms related to the constitution, public administration, judiciary, electoral process and the Anti-Corruption Commission.  A three-member BNP delegation, led by its Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed, handed over the party’s proposals to commission's vice-chairman Prof Dr Ali Riaz.  Stay united against autocracy to restore democracy: Tarique Earlier on Saturday, the party expressed doubt that implementing some of the reform commission's recommendations might weaken future governments and empower unelected individuals to control state affairs. Speaking at a press conference at the party Chairperson’s Gulshan office, its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also questioned whether the commission had made the recommendations as part of a planned initiative.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Col (retd) Oli Ahmed said on Thursday that his party agreed with 120 out of 166 proposals sent by the National Consensus Commission, which was formed for state reform. Speaking at a dialogue with the commission on Thursday at the LD Hall in the National Parliament Building area, Oli detailed the party’s stance on the proposals. He said out of the 166 proposals, LDP agreed with 120, disagreed with 42, partially agreed with two, and found two unclear. Consensus Commission starts dialogue with political parties On constitutional reforms, LDP agreed with 51 out of 61 proposals, disagreed with 16, partially agreed with one, and found two unclear. Regarding the judiciary, the party supported 22 out of 23 proposals and partially agreed with one. For anti-corruption measures, LDP backed all 20 proposals. However, in public administration, the party agreed with 11 out of 26 proposals and disagreed with 15. On electoral reforms, LDP supported 16 out of 27 proposals while opposing 11. Oli Ahmed criticised the Election Commission's recommendations, calling them weak. He pointed out that past recommendations from dialogues with political parties should have been compiled. "No matter what steps are taken, a fair election is impossible unless two key officials cooperate – the Officer-in-Charge (OC) and the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO)," he said. The meeting was led by National Consensus Commission Vice President Professor Ali Riaz, along with members Safar Raj Hossain, Emdadul Haque, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, and Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Monir Haider. Consensus Commission to hold meetings with 4 political parties before Eid: Ali Riaz LDP Secretary General Redwan Ahmed and eight other party members were also present at the time.

The Election Commission has sent its opinions to the National Consensus Commission, contradicting a number of reform proposals related to the election. “Addressing Prof Ali Riaz sir (Vice-chair of the national consensus commission), we’ve sent our opinions, expressing different views over some proposals – it may be 7-8 or 9-10,” said EC senior secretary Akhtar Ahmed while talking to reporters at his office in the capital on Monday. Raising some different views, he said the formation of a commission for the delimitation of constituencies as recommended by the reform commission is not needed. “We’ve said that the commission over the delimitation of constituencies is not needed,” he said. Besides, Akhtar Ahmed said, a formula of plus or minus 10 percent voters for the delimitation of constituencies, which is also not required. The EC argued that if the formula is followed, the number of constituencies in the urban areas will be significantly high and would be disproportionate as the influx of people towards urban areas is enormous, he said. Talking about other different views, Akhtar Ahmed said there is a proposal that the EC should make an announcement through a public notification in favour of fairness, credibility and acceptance of a national election within 48 hours of the balloting and before the issuance of gazette notification. About this proposal, he said the EC thinks this certification is not needed as a returning officer doesn’t announce unofficial election results, if he or she is not satisfied. The EC secretary said they think the number of voters and people and also geographical integrity should rightly be considered here. Akhtar Ahmed, however, said they agreed to the reform proposal to keep the national identity services under the authority of the Election Commission. Now the EC is properly providing services to 186 firms from the NID server.