Nazrul Islam
The outgoing Jatiya Sangsad speaker Jamiruddin Sircar is expected to administer oath to the lawmakers-elect to the ninth parliament on Sunday.
‘I wish to administer oath to the lawmakers-elect to the parliament on Sunday, provided the official gazette on the election results are available by Saturday,’ Jamiruddin told reporters in his office on Thursday.
The official results of Monday’s polling, in which the Awami League-led alliance of Sheikh Hasina had a landslide victory, were published in an official gazette, an Election Commission official said.
The new government should take over as soon as possible, Jamiruddin said. He said he wanted to issue a notice at least 24 hours before the oath-taking ceremony so that the lawmakers-elect could get prepared.
According to the constitution, the representatives elected to the parliament need to take oath three days inside the official gazette notification on the election results.
‘If, within three days next after publication through official gazette of the result of a general election of members of parliament under Clause (3) of Article 123 [election to parliament], the person specified under the constitution for the purpose or such other person designated by that person for the purpose, is unable to, or does not, administer oath to the newly elected members of parliament, on any account, the chief election commissioner shall administer such oath within three days next thereafter, as if, he is the person specified under the constitution for the purpose,’ reads the related provision in the constitution.
The formation of parliamentary parties or groups by the treasury and opposition branches will follow the oath of lawmakers. The treasury bench will nominate a parliamentary leader, whom the president will formally invite to form the government.
The government formation is expected in a day or two after the lawmakers-elect take oath of office, according to Awami League insiders. A draft of 25-member cabinet was initially discussed, said a source.
‘The government formation may take place on January 5 or 6,’ the Awami League’s spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters at Hasina’s house, Sudha Sadan.
Awami League leaders were in a hectic lobbying for portfolios in the government and the positions on the parliamentary committees.
The Parliament secretariat has, meanwhile, cancelled the weekend holidays on Friday and Saturday to get the parliament building and the oath hall readied for oath taking ceremony.
The speaker is expected to administer oath to the lawmakers-elect in the oath hall on the ground floor of the parliament building. The room had been cleaned up by this time.
There might be two sessions to administer oath to the lawmakers-elect as the oath hall can accommodate only 180 people at a time, said officials in the parliament secretariat.
The lawmakers elect will need to register their names with the secretariat and get their photographs taken immediately after oath.
The Awami League-led alliance polled 262 out of 299 parliamentary seats in the elections, defeating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, which won 32 seats.
The Awami League alone polled 230 seats, Jatiya Party 27, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal 3 and Workers Party of Bangladesh 2. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party polled 29 seats, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami 2 and Bangladesh Jatiya Party 1.
Liberal Democratic Party won one seat and four seats went to candidates contesting the polls independently.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
