Constitution reform commission recommendations: What BNP, Jamaat, others say

Broadly speaking, the recommendations made by the commission formed by the government include most of the changes to the constitution that BNP and the other major political parties wanted.

However, not all the recommendations have been as the political parties wanted, such as the fundamental pillars of the constitution, the composition of the parliament and other changes.

There has been a marked effort to include the main proposal of the parties, but add certain elements to ensure a balance of power.

The political parties are positively viewing the recommendation to being about a balance of power. But certain parties have raised questions about the recommendation to change the basic principles in running the state.

However, BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and other major parties till yesterday, Thursday, have not formally given their reactions to the reform commission's recommendations.

Speaking to Prothom Alo Thursday, member of BNP's constitutional affairs committee and standing committee member of the party, Salahuddin, Ahmed said, "As far as we have seen, certain elements have been adopted from our recommendations, such as a bicameral parliament, bringing about a balance in power and such. And the court has already given its ruling regarding the caretaker government system. The commission has recommended that too."

He said the commission has presented a summary of the recommendations. When we receive the details of recommendations, we will discuss it and give our views.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's secretary general Miah Golam Parwar feel it would not be prudent to commend on the matter right now.

He said, "This is nothing final, it is the recommendations of the commission. When the government arranges a dialogue with the political parties and other stakeholders, we will give our views on the matter of fundamental changes to the constitution. We do not think it is wise to comment before that."

The Constitution Reforms Commission headed by Professor Ali Riaz on Wednesday handed in its reform proposal to chief advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus. A summary of the report's recommendation has been uploaded on the commission's website.

In November last year, BNP submitted 62 proposals to the constitution reform commission. Significant among these recommendations are, inclusion of an election-time caretaker government system provision in the constitution, provision for a balance of powers between the prime minister and president, creating posts for vice president and deputy prime minister, creating an upper house in the parliament, placing the lower courts under control of the Supreme Court, reverting to the provision for referendum, forming a republic, executive, judiciary, legislative, an independent anti-corruption commission and  election commission.

Earlier on July 2023, BNP came up with a 31 point reform proposal for reforms of the constitution and state system as well as economic emancipation. Referring to the 31 point outline as the party's commitment, BNP told a press briefing that if they are elected they would form a national government and implement the reform proposals. There are eight constitution reform-related recommendations among the 31 points for state reforms.

Alongside BNP, Jamaat on 8 October last year came up with a 10 point reform proposal. Jamaat's ameer Shafiqur Rahman has said at the time, their reform proposal was elaborate and comprised 41 points. For the time being they had put forward the priority recommendations for the convenient of the interim government.

Later Jamaat handed in a written proposal to the constitution reform commission. In the meantime, Charmonai Pir's party, Islami Andolan, did not come up with any points for constitution reforms. They simply detailed requirements for an ideal state.

President of Nagorik Andolan, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, feels that, "Among the major recommendations given by the commission, there is the proposal for a bicameral parliament. Does the interim government have the time required to implement this? BNP wants the election in July-August. The government says it will hold the election this year. There will be a proportional representation election to 100 seats of the upper house. This will require demarcation. This seems to be over ambitious for the time in hand."

Speaking to Prothom Alo, senior joint secretary general of Islami Andolan, Gazi Ataur Rahman, said that they did not get the chance to review the recommendations as yet. However, they are not in favour of changing the Bangla term for Republic of Bangladesh from 'Gonoprojatontri Bangladesh) to 'Jonoprojatontri Bangladesh'. Also, the five fundamental pillars have been proposed as equality, human dignity, social justice, pluralism and democracy.

They question the issue of 'pluralism'. He feels that if there is democracy, there is no need for an additional pluralism.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh also has questions concerning the change in fundamental pillars. The party's general secretary Ruhin Islam alias Prince said, the four fundamental pillars of the 1972 constitution were determined in light of the declaration of independence. The people of Bangladesh will not accept these pillars to be dropped in the amendment of the constitution.

Spokesperson of Jatiya Nagorik Committee, Samanta Sharmin, speaking to Prothom Alo said, "We are perusing the reports of four reform commissions including the constitution reform commission. Upon completion, we will present our views on these reports at a press briefing."
Similarities and differences

Reviewing the proposals, it has been seen that BNP and Jamaat both call for a neutral caretaker government system to be included in the constitution in order to ensure free and fair elections.

The constitution reform commission has recommended provision for an 'interim government; which is essentially a caretaker government. Jamaat has proposed a proportional representation system for election to 300 seats in parliament.The commission did not take that into cognizance.

However, the constitution reform commission's proposal did include a proportional representation in the election to 100 seats of the upper house. The commission said that 100 members will be determined in proportionate ratio to the total votes won in the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) election.

BNP said the parliament will have an upper house comprising eminent citizens, professions, political scientists, social scientists and persons with administrative experience in order to run the state.

The constitution reform commission is agreeable to this, proposing an upper house of 105 members. Of them, 100 members will be determined in proportional ratio to the total votes won. And five of them will represent socially and economically backward communities. The remaining five seats will be nominated by the president from among those who are not members of any house or political party.

Jamaat had proposed a deputy speaker from the main opposition in parliament. But the constitution reform commission proposed this for the upper house. The commission said the speaker of the upper house will be elected from the upper house members based on general majority. And the upper house will have a deputy speaker elected from among member of the upper house, excluding from the ruling party.

The reform commission has recommended lowering the age to qualify as a member of parliament from 25 to 21. It has said 10 per cent of the candidates fielded by political parties are be youth. Ganatantra Mancha leaders said that this was not a well-thought out proposal.
Independence of the parliament members

Article 70 of the constitution is seen as an obstacle to members of parliament expressing their opinions independently. BNP has spoken about examining the matter of amending Article 70 to ensure parliament members can express their opinions independently except in the case of confidence votes, money bill, constitution amendment bill and on the question of state security.

But the reform commission has proposed that other than in the case of the money bill, the members of the lower house will have the power to vote against any bill of their own respective parties. Also, the heads of the parliamentary standing committees will always be from the opposition party members.

BNP has called for an amendment of the existing Chief Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Appointment Act 2022. And Jamaat has called for a search committee comprising the prime minister, leader of the opposition and the chief justice for the appointment of election commissioner and other commissioners.

The constitution reform commission has proposed a National Constitutional Council for the appointment of heads of important state institutions such as the Election Commission, Public Service Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, National Human Rights Commission and for the office of attorney general and additional attorney general, heads of the defence forces and other posts. The council will be constituted of the president, prime minister, speaker, chief justice, leader of the opposition and persons of various levels.

The recommendations of BNP, other parties and the constitution reforms commission are similar regarding steps to ensure effective independence of the judiciary. The constitution reforms commission has also recommended various other changes to the constitution including the fundamental principles, changes in the parliamentary structure and more.

Four commissions -- the constitution reform commission, the election system reform commission, the police reform commission and the anti-corruption commission reform commission -- submitted their reports on Wednesday.

The public administration and the judicial reforms commissions are to submit their reports by 31 January. The interim government is scheduled to hold discussions on all the commissions' recommendations with the political parties in February.