Is it at all possible?

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's proposed process for forming a new Election Commission appears almost impossible to complete as it requires 40 political parties to reach consensus three times when they rarely agree on anything.

President Abdul Hamid, according to Khaleda's proposals unveiled on Friday, would open a dialogue with 40 registered political parties, seeking their opinions on qualifications and disqualifications of people willing to be appointed chief election commissioner and four election commissioners.

The president would have to continue this discussion with them until a consensus is forged.

Once there is a consensus, the president would move for a second agreement among the parties to form a five-member search committee.

At this stage, each of the 40 political parties would propose two names for the search committee. The president would have to pick five from 80 names on the basis of a consensus among the political parties.

The political parties would also recommend 10 names each to the president for the posts of CEC and election commissioners -- two for CEC and eight for election commissioner posts.

Once formed, the search committee would go through all the 400 names and finalise 10 names to be placed before the president. The president would appoint a CEC and four election commissioners from that list.

It will not be an easy job for the search committee to come up with 10 names from the list of 400 names as it must be done on the basis of a consensus among the political parties.

The search committee would be in continuous discussion with political parties to make the list of 10 all the parties agree on, according to Khaleda's proposal.

Upon receiving a list of 10 nominees from the search committee, the president would constitute the new EC in February by appointing the CEC and four ECs.

It all begs the questions: How long will it take to complete the entire process? Is it indeed possible to have this kind of a consensus among the political parties?