Vital tasks ahead for the search committee

We commend the search committee formed to nominate candidates for the next Election Commission (EC) for publishing the names that were submitted to them. The names of 322 individuals were published on the website of the Cabinet Division, although details of their endorsers were left out. Some major political parties have refrained from making any recommendations. Despite that, we have to acknowledge that this departure from the tradition of not disclosing names is the first step to what we hope would be a fruitful endeavour in finding the most suitable candidates to form the next EC. 

The task for the committee now is to sift through the submissions, assess if the names of the best candidates came up, and finally propose 10 names to the president, who will pick five for the EC posts. We hope the identities of the 10 will be published too, with justifications provided for their nominations. However, there's no getting around the fact that in order for this process to be successful and accepted, it should be as representative as possible. That some opposition parties have boycotted this process of EC formation is, thus, troubling. If this is a sign of things to come, we may soon see a repeat of the acrimonious circumstances under which the last two highly controversial parliamentary elections were held. 

It will be unwise to overestimate the power of a search committee in such a state of affairs. It has no control over whether all political parties will agree on the formation of the EC or an election-time government. But it has the vital task to roll the first dice and build confidence in the subsequent process, which it can do by ensuring that concerns raised by the boycotting parties are properly addressed. 

A primary analysis of the names published shows that almost one-third of them are former bureaucrats. There are also former judges and military officials, academics, lawyers, and representatives of various other professions. While evaluating their eligibility, the committee should let us know what it is going to do to uphold the principles of integrity and neutrality. It should set, and subsequently publish, a clear guideline dictating the terms of acceptance and rejection. One criterion that we feel must be included is that no one with a past history of political allegiance, gainful engagement with the ruling party, or allegations of corruption and irregularity will be considered. The committee should also come clean about the endorsements of all political parties, so that the public can scrutinise them. Finally, it should hold public inquiries of the individuals being considered for the sake of transparency and confidence-building. 

All these are vital for making the nomination process a success, and for the search committee to avoid a credibility crisis.