Lawmakers-elect yesterday took parliamentary oaths, triggering a legal debate about whether such swearing-in, before the tenure of the ninth parliament finishes, is a violation of the constitution.
The tenure of the ninth parliament will end on January 24.
Publication of the gazette on Wednesday put Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury under a constitutional obligation to administer the swearing-in ceremony by Saturday.
On Thursday 284 out of the total 289 newly-elected lawmakers of the 10th Jatiya Shangsad, took their oaths of office in the parliament building around 10:15am.
Article 123 (3) of the charter says the MPs elected by a general election “must not” assume office as members of parliament before the expiry of the preceding parliament.
Again article 148 makes it clear that as soon as lawmakers are sworn in they are considered to have assumed office.
Chief Whip Abdus Shahid said, however, that oath taking without dissolving the ninth parliament is not a violation of the constitution.
He also said the BNP chairperson would soon be stripped of the post of the leader of the opposition, after the gazette confirms Rawshan Ershad as her successor.
“We need a fully-fledged new government as soon as possible, to curb the ongoing violence across the country. The interim government is weak in nature. Conspiracy is on,” said Syed Ashraful Islam, the Awami League general secretary, said after taking his oath and attending a parliamentary party meeting.
He said the present interim government headed by Sheikh Hasina was not taking any policy decisions during the transition period.
Asked about the two constitutional provisions, the Awami League general secretary said Bangladesh, for the first time in its history, witnessed the handover of power to a new government in line with the new constitutional provision. “This is a matter of legal interpretation as to whether the oath taking was a violation of constitution; I am not the person to give the interpretation. I was under constitutional obligation to administer the swearing-in within three days, as the EC published the gazette on Wednesday,” Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said.
She declined to comment on whether two parliaments were in existence after the 10th Jatiya Shangsad MPs took their oaths.
The EC, which the main opposition called subservient to the government, is yet to come up with explanation for publishing the gazette.
According to the new provision, the 10th parliamentary polls took place under the supervision of an interim government comprising of elected MPs with Sheikh Hasina as its chief.
All elections since 1990, except for the sixth parliamentary polls, have been held under a non-party caretaker government – a system which was incorporated into the constitution in 1996 following the Awami League’s vigorous campaign against the then BNP government.
Before 1990, the four parliaments after 1973 (first parliament), had either been abolished or dissolved before completing their five-year terms, as a result of military coups or mass uprisings.
The non-party caretaker government provision says such a government can take office after the completion of a five-year term of an elected regime. The caretaker government holds elections within 90 days of the day it takes office.
But the last non-party caretaker government stayed in power for about two years beyond its constitutional mandate.
The parliamentary records show 226 Awami League MPs and 31 from Jatiya Party (JaPa) took oaths on Thursday. The parties that took oaths on Thursday included: Workers’ Party (six), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (four out of five), Jatiya Party-JP (one), BNF (one) and Tariquat Federation (one).
Jatiya Party’s HM Ershad, Awami League’s Saber Hossain Chowdhury, and Nazmul Hassan and Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal of the JSD did not take oaths.
Since morning the newly elected MPs and their assistants filled the oath room of the Jatiya Shangsad, as the first oath was supposed to be administered at 10am. The Awami League first took its oaths. Shirin Sharmin Chadhury then administered oaths to other MPs.
The Awmai League MPs then attended the first meeting of the parliamentary party, held on the ninth floor of the Jatiya Shangsad. The MPs unanimously elected Sheikh Hasina as the Leader of the House.
