No one was given indemnity in the Election Commission formation bill that was passed in the parliament today, Law Minister Anisul Huq said.

Awami League does not walk on the path of indemnity, he said, adding that “their hearts bleed when indemnity is mentioned”.

A legal coverage has been given in formulating the law and none was given special protection, he added.

The minister was responding to lawmakers while placing the proposed bill — “Appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Bill-2022” — to the selection committee.

Lawmakers from Jatiya Party and BNP criticised the proposed law saying that it was enacted hurriedly.

“I said that it’s not possible to enact the law during the tenure of the present Election Commission. Because as I said, it would be difficult to pass this law during the limited period as the parliament sat for a shorter time during the pandemic,” he said.

In this context, he further said, “A delegation of Shujan (Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik) came to me with a draft law and proposed to pass it. I told them that it would take time for the law to be passed. They also placed a proposal to do it by ordinance. I told them that I will not pass this law bypassing the parliament. We will not enact this law without placing it before the parliament.”

Replying to a query, he said that all the parties who had gone for dialogue with the president and those who did not go, have proposed to form the EC through a new law.

“We were not in a hurry. The talk on the law started long time ago. The law was discussed in 2017 when the political parties had a dialogue with the prime minister and then the PM asked to formulate this law,” he added.