Newly elected Members of Parliament from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have declined to take oath as members of the proposed Constitution Reform Council (CRC), stating that the Constitution does not currently provide for such a body.
The lawmakers were sworn in only as members of the 13th Parliament during a ceremony held at the Oath Room of the Jatiya Sangsad in Dhaka at 10:43 local time on Tuesday. Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oath in accordance with constitutional provisions, as the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 12th Parliament remain vacant.
Ahead of the ceremony, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters that the party’s elected representatives had not been chosen as members of any Constitution Reform Council and that the Constitution makes no mention of such an institution.
“We were not elected as members of any Constitution Reform Council, nor has such a body yet been incorporated into the Constitution,” Salahuddin Ahmed said. “If a Constitution Reform Council is formed following the verdict of a referendum, it must first be included in the Constitution.”
Salahuddin Ahmed also raised questions about the legal framework governing the proposed council, saying there is no constitutional provision specifying who would administer the oath to its members. He argued that these legal issues must be clearly defined before any oath-taking could take place.
Referring to what he described as two different oath forms, Salahuddin Ahmed explained that a standard white oath form exists for Members of Parliament under the Third Schedule of the Constitution. However, he said a separate coloured, light blue form presented for CRC members has no constitutional basis.
According to Salahuddin Ahmed, the new form would need to be formally incorporated into the Third Schedule before any oath could be administered to members of the proposed council.
“The oath of the members of the Constitution Reform Council can be taken after these matters are constitutionally adopted in Parliament,” he said, adding that the party had so far acted strictly in line with the Constitution.
Salahuddin Ahmed said the decision was taken in line with the directive of the party chairman and had been communicated publicly ahead of the ceremony.
The development is likely to trigger further political and legal debate over the formation of the proposed Constitution Reform Council and the process required to formalise its role within Bangladesh’s constitutional framework.
