The search committee tasked with recommending candidates for the positions of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and five election commissioners will meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin this evening.

The committee, led by Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury of the Appellate Division, is scheduled to meet with the President at 6:30pm in Bangabhaban, Joynal Abedin, press secretary to the President, told The Daily Star.

On October 29, the interim government formed the six-member search committee, marking a significant step toward strengthening the country's electoral framework.

The committee members are Justice AKM Asaduzzaman, a judge of the High Court Division; Nurul Islam, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG); Mobasser Momen, Chairman of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission; and eminent personalities such as CR Abrar, Executive Director of the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit, and Prof Zeenatun Nesa Tahmida Begum, a former Dhaka University teacher and ex-PSC Chairman.

According to the law, once a search committee is formed, it must propose to the President the names of 10 individuals within 15 working days, nominating two candidates for each position in the Election Commission.

The President then selects the Chief Election Commissioner and four election commissioners to form the new Election Commission.

The positions of election commissioners became vacant after Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and four election commissioners resigned on September 5, a month after a mass uprising led to the fall of the Hasina-led government.