Newly elected MPs, cabinet members to take oath on Tuesday

All 296 newly elected members of parliament (MPs) of the 13^th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) will take their oath at the Jatiya Sangsad here on Tuesday.

The lawmakers will first swear in as MPs and then as members of the Constitutional Reform Council, according to a press release from the JS Secretariat on Monday.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin is expected to administer the oath to the lawmakers at the Oath Room of the Sangsad Bhaban at 10am, the release said.

Cabinet Secretary Dr Nasimul Ghani will oversee the oath-taking ceremony.

Lawmakers elected from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), including party chairman Tarique Rahman, will take the oath first.

They will be followed by lawmakers from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis, Khelafat Majlish, Gano Odhikar Parishad, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Ganosamhati Andolon and independent MPs.

According to official results, the BNP won 209 seats on its own, while its alliance partners Gano Odhikar Parishad, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) and Ganosamhati Andolon each secured one seat.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami claimed 68 seats, emerging as the main opposition party, while its allies—National Citizen Party (NCP), Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis and Khelafat Majlish—won six, two and one seat, respectively.

Islami Andolon Bangladesh won one seat, and independent candidates were victorious in seven constituencies.

On Friday night, the Election Commission published the gazette for 297 of the 299 parliamentary seats in the 13^th parliamentary polls.

The announcement for two seats—Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4—was postponed due to legal issues, while voting in Sherpur-3 was delayed following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin will administer the oath to the new cabinet members at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad on Wednesday afternoon.

“The Parliament Secretariat is set to hold the oath-taking ceremony of the new cabinet members at 4:00 pm on Wednesday,” Secretary of the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat Kaniz Maula told BSS.

The Cabinet Division and the Parliament Secretariat have been preparing for the ceremony since Saturday, two days after the 13^th Jatiya Sangsad polls were held, she added.

Breaking a long-standing tradition, the swearing-in ceremony of the new government will take place at the South Plaza of the Parliament Complex instead of Bangabhaban.

A Bangabhaban source said the cabinet secretary will conduct the oath-taking ceremony.

Following the swearing-in of the newly elected MPs, a meeting of the Parliamentary Board of the BNP, which secured an overwhelming majority, will be held to elect its parliamentary leader.

The leader of the House will then meet the President to inform him that the party commands an absolute majority in Parliament, formally seeking appointment as Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

The President will subsequently appoint the party leader as Prime Minister, who will then select other cabinet colleagues.

President Shahabuddin, as Head of State, will administer the oath first to the Prime Minister, followed by the ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers on the same day.