"Awami League should see its own face in the mirror. Did they discuss with the opposition when they had appointed CEC MA Syed?" he questioned while talking to reporters at his office.

"It's sad that Awami League has reacted in such a manner. I hope they would revise their remarks," he said, adding that the new CEC, MA Aziz, was appointed a judge during the caretaker government in 1996 and it was the AL government that confirmed his job in 1998. "So, AL should not raise any question in this regard," Moudud said.

He said Justice MA Aziz was an efficient judge and he had also earned reputation as a barrister. "He had never ever any relation with any political party."

The law minister said: "As a justice, he gave verdicts in many important cases of public interest, which will remain in public minds for long."

Keeping all this in mind, he said, the government has appointed an efficient, neutral and acceptable personality as the chief election commissioner with a hope that free and fair election elections will be held under his leadership.

He said the present government will have to quit three months before the next general election when a non-party caretaker government will run the country. "So, there is no scope of creating any influence by any political government or party on the election process or management," Moudud argued.

Asked why the government did not discuss the matter with the opposition, Maudud cited how Awami League had appointed MA Syed as CEC. "Such culture has not developed yet in Bangladesh. Our political culture is that one party does not like another. That's why such culture has not developed,"

However, he said it would have been better for all had there been such a culture in the country.

Moudud hoped that Awami league and other opposition parties would accept Justice MA Aziz and cooperate with him in holding free and fair elections.