Staff Correspondent
Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain on Tuesday said that there was no mandatory rule that the inaugural parliamentary session would haveto be held with all its
members, including the ladies who will be elected to the seats reserved for women. ‘The parliament will be formed with 345 Members of Parliament but there is no mandatory rule that the first session will have to be held with all the members present,’ Sohul told reporters at his office.
He made the statement while it was being discussed whether the EC was legally bound to hold elections to the 45 parliamentary seats reserved for women before the inaugural session of this parliament, scheduled for January 25.
Sohul said that process for election to the 45 seats reserved for women will have to be completed within 90 days of publishing the gazette on the result of the polls.
EC sources said the election commissioners want to hold the polls after the new parliament goes into session.
According to the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act 2004, the EC will have to conduct elections within 90 days after publication of the gazette notification on the election results.
It also needs to publish separate lists of lawmakers belonging to different political parties and alliances, and distribute the 45 reserved seats among them in accordance with the principle of proportional representation, within 30 days after the publication of the official gazette notification on the election results.
As per the constitution, the parliament shall consist of 300 members to be elected directly by the people in single territorial constituencies, and the 45 seats reserved for women will be allotted to the political parties on the basis of their proportional representation in parliament.
The EC will compute the number of the women’s reserved seats that the political parties deserve on the basis of proportional representation in the parliament.
The Awami League-led alliance, which won in 262 constituencies, will get 39 reserved seats. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance with 32 constituencies [including two of Jamaat-e-Islami and one of Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP)] will get five reserved seats. The four independent lawmakers and Liberal Democratic Party’s chief, Oli Ahmed, will not get any seat unless they form an alliance.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
