The Constitution (17th Amendment) Bill, 2018, was placed in parliament on Tuesday to reserve the 50 parliamentary seats exclusively for women for another 25 years.
Law Minister Anisul Huq placed the bill in the House and it was sent to the respective parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny.
The committee was asked to submit its report within 30 days.
According to the constitution, parliament shall consist of 300 members to be elected directly, and 50 reserved seats for women to be allotted to parties based on their proportional representation in the House.
There are 50 reserved seats in the parliament at present. But the existing 10-year tenure of the reserved seats is going to end on January 24, 2019.
Also Read- Tenure of reserved seats for women in parliament to be increased by 25 years
On January 29 this year, the Cabinet Division decided to extend the tenure of women MPs by another 25 years, to 2044.
According to the draft bill, the 25-year period of the reserved seats will be counted from the first day of the 11th parliament.
In 2004, the eighth parliament extended the tenure of the reserved seats by another 10 years through a constitutional amendment and it became effective in the ninth parliament, which sat on January 25, 2009.
The eighth parliament increased the number of reserved seats from 30 to 45 while the ninth parliament enhanced it to 50.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
