Kazi Habibul Awal appointed new CEC

The government has appointed retired senior secretary Kazi Habibul Awal as the 13th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Bangladesh.

A gazette notification issued on Saturday also announced the names of four Election Commissioners (ECs).

The commissioners are retired sessions and district judge Begum Rashida Sultana, retired Brig Gen Md Ahsan Habib Khan, retired senior secretary Md Alamgir, and retired senior secretary Anisur Rahman.

Earlier, the EC search committee handed over the final list of 10 candidates to the president in a meeting on February 24

The search committee, headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, had shortlisted the 10 names from a proposed 329 names for the formation of the next EC.

During the process, the committee held seven meetings. It also held four meetings with 47 eminent personalities to get suggestions over the EC formation.

The tenure of the immediate past election commission led by CEC KM Nurul Huda expired on February 14. 
 

Who is Kazi Habibul Awal:

Kazi Habibul Awal was born on January 21, 1956. He received LLB (Hons) in 1976 and LLM in 1978 from Dhaka University.

He obtained Certificate of Enrollment as an Advocate from Bangladesh Bar Council in 1980 and became member of Dhaka District Bar Association.

He also worked as Secretary, Bangladesh Law Commission, Chairman, Labour Court and Project Director of Bangladesh Legal and Judicial Capacity Building Project.

Kazi Habibul Awal also worked on deputation in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs as Assistant Secretary and Deputy Secretary.

He was appointed as Joint Secretary in the Legislative Drafting Wing of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in December 2000.

He was appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Law in 2004.

Thereafter he was appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on 28 June 2007, and served in that position until December 17, 2009.

He was appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Religious Affairs on 24 April 2010.

Kazi Habibul Awal joined the Ministry of Defence as Secretary in 2014. The same year, he was promoted as a Senior Secretary in the same Ministry.

He retired on January 20, 2015. He was then reappointed as Senior Secretary in Ministry of Defence on January 21, 2015.