The government has issued gazette of the six-member search committee that will propose names for constituting a new Election Commission (EC).

The committee, headed by Appellate Division Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury will recommend two names for each position for the appointment of a new CEC and four other election commissioners, according to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Thursday.

The other members of the search committee are Justice AKM Asaduzzaman of the High Court Division, Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh Md Nurul Islam, Chairman of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) Mobassher Monem, former professor of International Relations at Dhaka University Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar and former PSC chairman Professor Jinnatun Nessa Tahmida Begum.

Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury ranks third in the seniority list of Supreme Court judges in the Appellate Division.  He was enlisted as a district court lawyer in 1985 and began practicing in the High Court Division two years later.

In August 2003, he was appointed as an additional justice in the High Court Division, with his position becoming permanent two years later.

After the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury was promoted as the Appellate Division justice on 13 August last.

Another member of the search committee, Justice AKM Asaduzzaman, is second in seniority among High Court justices. He began his career as a lawyer in 1983 by enrolling in district court and was enlisted in the High Court Division in September of that year.

He was appointed as an additional justice in the High Court Division on 27 August 2003, with his position becoming permanent two years later.

Md Nurul Islam, a member of the search committee and an officer of the 8th BCS Audit and Accounts cadre, was appointed as the Comptroller and Auditor General in July 2023.

Dhaka University Professor Mobassher Monem, another member of the search committee, is the current chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar, a retired professor from the International Relations Department of Dhaka University, will also serve as a member of the search committee.

He is the executive director of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), a private research organisation focused on migration. He previously held the position of president of the human rights organisation, Odhikar.

Another search committee member, Professor Jinnatun Nessa Tahmida Begum, is a retired professor of the Botany Department at Dhaka University and a former PSC chairman.

She served as PSC chairman for five years starting 9 May 2002, and previously held the position of pro-vice chancellor at Dhaka University.