[🇧🇩] Consensus Commission.

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Consensus commission to seek political party feedback on reform proposals

The National Consensus Commission is set to gather feedback from political parties on which reform proposals are agreed, partially agreed, and not agreed.

www.newagebd.net

Consensus commission to seek political party feedback on reform proposals
Staff Correspondent 02 March, 2025, 00:16

The National Consensus Commission is set to gather feedback from political parties on which reform proposals are agreed, partially agreed, and not agreed.

Formed on 12 February, the NCC has been tasked with drafting the national consensus charter, or July Charter, —an agreement among political parties—particularly concerning reform proposals on the constitution, electoral system, judiciary, police, public administration, and the Anti-Corruption Commission.

One of the NCC members, preferring anonymity, on Saturday told New Age that the schedule for the next NCC meeting would be finalised after collecting the political parties’ responses to reform proposals.

The chief adviser’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, replying to a question at a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on the day said that the NCC’s dialogue with political parties would begin soon.

As part of the political consensus-building process, the NCC would email a questionnaire to political parties in the next couple of days, the National Consensus Commission member said.

Around 150 questions would be sent to the parties to gather their feedback on which recommendations they agree with, partially agree with or disagree with, he said.

The full reports of six reform commissions were made public on February 8.

By February 21, at least 28 political parties and alliances had received hard copies of the reports for review.

The NCC member said that the political parties are expected to provide their feedback within a week of receiving the questionnaire.

Once all parties’ responses are collected, the schedule for the next NCC meeting will be finalised, the member added.

The interim government’s chief adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who also serves as NCC chairman, chaired the first NCC meeting on February 15.​

 

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Consensus commission: Parties asked to give opinions on reforms

The National Consensus Commission has sent a letter to political parties, seeking their opinions on key recommendations made by six reform commissions.

www.thedailystar.net

Consensus commission: Parties asked to give opinions on reforms
Spreadsheet handed to them with March 13 as deadline

The National Consensus Commission has sent a letter to political parties, seeking their opinions on key recommendations made by six reform commissions.

The parties have been requested to submit their feedback in a spreadsheet attached to the letter by March 13.

After receiving their responses, the commission will sit with each political party separately, Prof Ali Riaz, vice-chairman of the National Consensus Commission, told The Daily Star last night.

The letter signed by Prof Riaz contains a tabular format summary of the key recommendations of the six reform commissions, according to sources.

The parties have been asked to provide feedback on two aspects for each recommendation.

The first aspect is whether they agree with the recommendation.

They have been given three options: "Agree", "Disagree", and "Partially Agree". Each party must select one of these options to express their stance.

The second aspect is their opinion on the timeline and method of implementation of each recommendation.

There are six options to choose from: implementation through an ordinance before election, implementation through a referendum before election, implementation through a referendum during the election, implementation through a constituent assembly, implementation through constitutional reform after election, or implementation through both a constituent assembly and a legislature. Additionally, a comment section has been provided next to each recommendation for the parties to express their views.

Monir Haider, special assistant (consensus) to the chief adviser, is coordinating this initiative.

Among the recommendations for which political parties' opinions have been sought are appointment of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners based on political consensus and transparency, enacting a law to clarify the responsibilities, powers, and accountability of the Election Commission, and establishing a permanent national constitutional council for appointing officials in all constitutional bodies, including the Election Commission.

Other proposals include putting a two-term limit on prime ministers, making a two-time elected prime minister ineligible for the presidency, and prohibiting the same person from simultaneously holding the positions of party chief, prime minister, and leader of parliament. The creation of an upper house in parliament with 100 seats allocated proportionally, and offering the deputy speaker position to the opposition party have also been proposed.

Additionally, it has been suggested that a lower house of parliament be formed with 400 members, including 100 reserved seats for women who will be elected directly.

There is also a proposal to elect a nonpartisan, honest, competent, and reputable individual as president through a larger electoral college consisting of members of both houses of parliament and all local government representatives.

Other recommendations include holding local government polls before national elections, making the Election Commission accountable, and amending the International Crimes Tribunal Act and the Representation of the People Order to prevent individuals accused of crimes against humanity from contesting parliamentary elections.

After the fall of the Awami League regime in August last year, the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus formed six reform commissions in early October, covering key areas such as the constitution, electoral system, public administration, police, Anti-Corruption Commission, and the judiciary.

These six commissions published their final reports in February. Subsequently, the government formed the National Consensus Commission, headed by Prof Yunus and comprising the heads of the six reform commissions.

The Consensus Commission will come up with a charter based on the reform proposals that will gain political consensus.​

 

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FEEDBACK ON NATIONAL CONSENSUS: Major parties set to miss deadline

Major political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, are set to miss the deadline for submitting their feedback to the National Consensus Commission’s multiple-choice questionnaire on key reforms...

www.newagebd.net

FEEDBACK ON NATIONAL CONSENSUS: Major parties set to miss deadline
Sadiqur Rahman 12 March, 2025, 23:36

Major political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, are set to miss the deadline for submitting their feedback to the National Consensus Commission’s multiple-choice questionnaire on key reforms.

The deadline expires today.

Most of the parties said that they would take time to submit their feedback while some of the parties said that they would issue statements instead of submitting answers to the NCC questionnaire at all.

The Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal-Jasad and the Islami Andolan Bangladesh said that they would submit the answers to the NCC questions today.

The NCC, formed led by chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on February 12 to adopt reform commissions’ proposals through consensus among the political parties, on March 5 sent 166 multiple-choice questions to 34 political parties and alliances, seeking their answers by March 13.

The NCC questionnaire sent to political parties requires them to place a ‘tick mark’ to indicate whether they agree, partially agree or disagree with 166 specific recommendations.

It also seeks their views on whether the proposed reforms should be implemented via ordinance or referendum before the national election.

Alternatively, it seeks opinions on carrying out reforms through a referendum during the election, a constituent assembly, post-election constitutional amendments or through elected assembly and parliament members.

BNP standing committee member Salah Uddin Ahmed said, ‘Only answering the multiple-choice questions using tick marks will create confusion. That’s why we will review all the recommendations by six reform commissions to answer the questions and submit a review report to the commission within a few days.’

Six reform commissions on constitution, electoral, police, judicial, public administration and Anti-Corruption Commission submitted their full reports to the interim government on January 15.

The reports were made public on February 8.

Salah Uddin Ahmed said that the BNP would consider the political perspectives of its allies in finalising the party’s review report on reform proposals.

Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Mia Golam Parwar said on Wednesday that his party leaders discussed the NCC questionnaire but were yet to finalise the answers.

‘We will sit on Thursday to chalk out the answers. Hopefully, we will send our feedback in two to three days,’ he said.

Newly flouted National Citizen Party joint convener Sarwar Tushar said that his party leaders had discussed the questionnaire but would not send the answers to the NCC today.

‘We will respond to the NCC in a few days,’ Sarwar said.

The multiple-choice questionnaire, however, irked several politicians in the left block. They said that political consensus would not be created by answering only a set of multiple-choice questions.

Some of them said that the NCC could host a series of discussions with political parties regularly instead of sending a questionnaire.

Iqbal Kabir Zahid, the coordinator of the Left Democratic Alliance, said that seeking political parties’ ‘tick-mark’ answers on the crucial reform proposals seems inappropriate.

‘We will not submit the answers to the multiple-choice questions. But, we will send a joint-statement of the left parties on the reforms soon,’ Iqbal said.

LDA is an alliance of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Socialist Party of Bangladesh, the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), the Biplobi Communist League, the Ganatantrik Biplobi Party and the Samajtantrik Party.

CPB general secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince on Wednesday said that his party would issue a statement on overall reforms after a few days instead of answering to the NCC questions.

Gana Adhikar Parishad faction general secretary Rashed Khan said that the NCC was not active in lessening the distances among the political parties, which, he believes, was more crucial than knowing answers to a set of multiple-choice questions.

‘However, we will respond to the NCC soon,’ Rashed said.

Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal-Jasad presidium member Mushtuq Husain said that his party had already prepared the answers and would send them to the NCC today.

The Islami Andolan Bangladesh secretary general Yunus Ahmed Sheikh said that his party would also submit the feedback to the NCC today.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, NCC vice-chairman Professor Ali Riaz said that the commission would hold a series of dialogues with political parties soon after receiving their feedback.

The NCC is assigned to draft a political consensus-based ‘National Charter’ by July 15.​

 

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NATIONAL CONSENSUS COMMISSION: Only 7 parties give feedback

The National Consensus Commission will extend the deadline for receiving opinions on key reform proposals made by different commissions, as only seven out of the 37 political parties which were requested to give opinions, had responded to the NCC’s call by Thursday.

www.newagebd.net

NATIONAL CONSENSUS COMMISSION: Only 7 parties give feedback
Staff Correspondent 13 March, 2025, 23:45

The National Consensus Commission will extend the deadline for receiving opinions on key reform proposals made by different commissions, as only seven out of the 37 political parties which were requested to give opinions, had responded to the NCC’s call by Thursday.

In a letter dated March 5 to the political parties, the commission set March 13 as the deadline.

According to the commission’s press note released on Thursday afternoon, 16 political parties had requested an extension to the deadline for submitting their opinions on the recommendations.

Commission officials, however, did not disclose which parties had responded on time and which had requested a time extension.

However, Monir Haidar, the reforms-related special assistant to the chief adviser of the interim government, said that the commission would consider extending the deadline.

‘Major political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami and the newly launched National Citizen Party, have requested an extension to the deadline,’ Monir told New Age on Thursday.

On March 6, the commission dispatched a 166-point questionnaire to the 37 political parties, aiming to gather their views on key reform proposals relating to the constitution, electoral process, judiciary, public administration and the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The questionnaire required respondents to place a ‘tick mark’ to indicate whether they agree, partially agree, or disagree with each of the 166 specific recommendations.

It also sought their views on whether the proposed reforms should be implemented through ordinance or referendum before the national election.

It invited opinions on whether the reforms should be carried out through a referendum, a constituent assembly, post-election constitutional amendments, or through elected assembly and parliamentary members.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, the commission’s vice-chairman, Ali Riaz, said that the commission would begin dialogues with political parties shortly after receiving their feedback.

Commenting on the dialogue schedule, Monir said that commission members would discuss the matter on March 16.

‘Hopefully, the commission will commence dialogues with individual political parties in the coming week,’ he said.​

 

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Consensus Commission's dialogue with political parties to begin Thursday

The National Consensus Commission is set to begin its dialogues with political parties, starting with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday, aiming to build a national consensus on the reform initiatives undertaken by the interim government.

en.prothomalo.com

Consensus Commission's dialogue with political parties to begin Thursday
BSS
Dhaka
Published: 18 Mar 2025, 20: 11

The National Consensus Commission is set to begin its dialogues with political parties, starting with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday, aiming to build a national consensus on the reform initiatives undertaken by the interim government.

The meeting with the LDP is scheduled for 3:00 pm on Thursday, according to a press release.

The commission will later announce the schedule for talks with other political parties in phases.

Meanwhile, two more political parties – Jatiya Ganofront and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) – submitted their views on the reform recommendations to the National Consensus Commission on Tuesday.

With the two parties, a total of 15 political parties have so far submitted their opinions, but major political parties, including BNP and Jamaat, are yet to send theirs.

The 15 parties are Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Khelafat Majlish, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh, Zaker Party, Bhasani Onusari Parishad, Nationalist Democratic Movement (NDM), Amjanatar Dal, Rashtra Sanskar Andolon, Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Bangladesh Jasad, Bangladesh Labour Party, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party), Nagorik Oikya, Jatiya Ganofront and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD).

Besides, 14 more political parties sought a few more days to place their complete opinions. The Consensus Commission is again contacting the remaining nine parties.

The commission, spearheaded by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, started its work on 15 February 2025.

The commission identified the crucial recommendations made in the reports of five reform commissions – the constitution reform commission, the public administration reform commission, the electoral system reform commission, the judiciary reform commission and the ACC reform commission – to seek opinions from the political parties.

Later, the commission sent a set of recommendations in a spreadsheet format to 38 political parties asking them to send their specific opinions on the important reform recommendations by 13 March.​

 

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We’ll form consensus rising above personal, party interests: Rizwana Hasan

Environment, forest and climate change and the water resources adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan has said there has to be a fair trial of the killings and barbarism in July-August.

en.prothomalo.com

We’ll form consensus rising above personal, party interests: Rizwana Hasan
Staff Correspondent
Savar
Published: 26 Mar 2025, 11: 39

Environment, forest and climate change and the water resources adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan talks to the media at the National Memorial in Savar, marking the Independence and National Day, on 26 March 2025 Screengrab of a video.

Environment, forest and climate change and the water resources adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan has said there has to be a fair trial of the killings and barbarism in July-August.

“The killings and barbarity that took place in July-August (2024) must be tried in a fair way. We will try in our limited time so that people receive some verdicts of this trial. If we can do this, there will really be a trial of this barbarity, so that such trust comes among the people.”

Syeda Rizwana Hasan was talking to the media around 6:15 am today, Wednesday, after paying tribute to the martyrs at the National Memorial in Savar, marking the Independence and National Day.

She said there are the traditional challenges for a government. Now the process has begun to build consensus on various reforms. It must go through a process. Everyone must move forward together.

Another issue is to conduct the election fairly; fulfill the expectations of the people, she asserted.

Responding to a question on how far the expectations would be fulfilled, the adviser said, “The hope is that we will reach a consensus rising above personal and party interests in the national interest and. But different people see each issue differently. They have their own perspectives. It will take some time to reduce the differences in those perspectives and bring them to a common ground.”

Syeda Rizwana Hasan hoped political parties would prioritise national interests rising above everything else.

“They (the politicians) are much more experienced than many of us. That is why, I think that if we think people will take us into their confidence, then there is no way not to reach a consensus on the reforms that the people demand,” she added.​

 

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Consensus Commission to collect citizens’ views on reforms soon, says Ali Riaz

National Consensus Commission Vice-Chairman Ali Riaz has said they will soon start seeking the people’s views on national reforms through an online survey. Speaking at the LD Hall of the parliament complex on Monday, he said the survey would open a way for the public to express their opinion

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Consensus Commission to collect citizens’ views on reforms soon, says Ali Riaz
bdnews24.com
Published :
Apr 07, 2025 21:50
Updated :
Apr 07, 2025 21:50

National Consensus Commission Vice-Chairman Ali Riaz has said they will soon start seeking the people’s views on national reforms through an online survey.

Speaking at the LD Hall of the parliament complex on Monday, he said the survey would open a way for the public to express their opinions.

The Consensus Commission, led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, became active on Feb 15. It aims to hold discussions with parties and political forces to form a national consensus and review the recommendations made by the reform panels ahead of the next parliamentary elections.

After reform panels forwarded their recommendations, the commission requested the 38 political parties to provide comments on them by Mar 13.

Nine parties have yet to submit their opinions on the recommendations.

“We’ve received opinions from 29 political parties and are holding discussions based on those. We held dialogues with four political parties before Eid and resumed discussion [on Monday] after [Eid] break,” Riaz said.

“Hopefully the first phase of dialogues with parties and alliances will conclude by the first week of May.”

“We will then enter the second phase. In that case, differing opinions outside things agreed upon [will be there]. Some things need to be elaborated. We’ll hopefully be able to discuss these in the second week of May.

“The commission aims to wrap up its responsibilities by July, he added.

The interim government wants to hold the general election between December this year and the first half of 2026 plugging in reforms based on consensus among political parties.

The parties had been cooperating with the commission, he said. “Political parties represent the people, not just a particular group or section of society. We want to take the views outside of those.

“We will start down that path very soon. Our sincere effort is to establish consensus through the participation of everyone. So that we can focus on the reform process."

The Consensus Commission sat with the AB Party, led by Chairman Mojibur Rahman, around 3pm on Monday.​

 

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undefined | The Financial Express

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Consensus Commission resumes talks with parties on reforms Saturday
UNB
Published :
Apr 11, 2025 21:03
Updated :
Apr 11, 2025 21:03

As part of the series of talks with political parties, the National Consensus Commission is going to sit in separate discussions with Bangladesh Jasod and Zaker Party on Saturday over the reform recommendations.

The talks with Jasod will be held at 10:00 am, while that with Zaker Party at 3:00 pm at the LD Hall of the Jatiya Sangsad Complex, said a press release on Friday.

The Consensus Commission opened the dialogues on March 20 last and already held talks with six political parties – Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Khelafat Majlish, Bangladesh Labour Party, Rastra Sangshaskar Andolan, Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party and Nagorik Oikya.

The commission has a plan to complete the first round of talks by the first week of May.

The Consensus Commission, spearheaded by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, started its work on February 15, 2025.

The commission identified the crucial recommendations made in the reports of five reform commissions – the constitution reform commission, the public administration reform commission, the electoral system reform commission, the judiciary reform commission and the ACC reform commission – to seek opinions from the political parties.

Later, the commission sent a set of recommendations in spreadsheet format to 38 political parties asking them to send their specific opinions on the important reform recommendations by March 13.

A total of 32 political parties, including BNP, Jamaat and NCP submitted their respective proposals to the Consensus Commission.​