The newly formed, youth-led National Citizen Party, which has agreed to more than two-thirds of the 166 key recommendations proposed by five reform commissions, is set to have its dialogue with the National Consensus Commission today.
According to an NCC press release issued on Friday, the dialogue will take place at 10:30am at the LD Auditorium of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the capital Dhaka.
Earlier, on March 23, the NCP responded to a spreadsheet-based questionnaire provided by the NCC, offering its position on the 166 multi-choice questions covering key reforms related to the constitution, electoral system, judiciary, public administration, and the Anti-Corruption Commission.
鈥業n our first dialogue with the NCC (on Saturday), we will raise the question as to why the key reform package excluded crucial proposals from the Police Reform Commission and the Local Government Reform Commission,鈥� said Sarwar Tushar, joint convener of the NCP.
The reform commissions on the constitution, electoral system, police, and the ACC submitted their full reports to the interim government on January 15.
Meanwhile, the judiciary and public administration reform commissions submitted their reports on January 31, and the Local Government Reform Commission submitted a preliminary report on February 22.
On March 5, the NCC, which had meanwhile compiled key recommendations from the constitution, electoral system, judiciary, public administration, and ACC reform commissions, distributed a multi-choice questionnaire to 39 political parties for their opinions on the recommendations.
The questionnaire offered six implementation options, including reform through ordinances or referendum before or during the next national elections, through a constituent assembly, or through constitutional reform after the elections, or through a parliament which will first work as a constituent assembly and then as a regular legislature.
According to the NCP鈥檚 feedback, the party fully agreed to 113 recommendations and partially agreed to 29 out of the 166 presented.
Unlike many prominent political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the NCP favoured the implementation of consensus-based reforms by elected members of a parliament which will first work as a constituent assembly and then as a regular legislature.
An analysis of the NCP responses shows that the party considered at least 93 reform proposals 鈥� mainly from the constitution and electoral reform commissions 鈥� as suitable for implementation by a constituent-cum-regular parliament.
Additionally, the party suggested that 14 out of the 23 recommendations from the Judiciary Reform Commission can be implemented through ordinances. Of the 20 recommendations made by the ACC Reform Commission, the NCP proposed that 15 be implemented via ordinance.
The party disagreed to 11 of the 26 recommendations from the Public Administration Reform Commission. It also strongly opposed the proposal to divide the country into four provinces, calling it 鈥榙angerous鈥�.
On February 28, the NCP was formed, primarily comprising student organisers who had led the July mass uprising that overthrew the Sheikh Hasina-led regime after its 15 years in power.
The NCP is yet to be registered with the Election Commission as a political party.