The newly elected members of parliament (MPs) of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) took the oath of office at the Jatiya Sangsad this morning. However, they did not take an oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council, reports a leading local Daily.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oath at 10:43 am in line with the Constitution, as the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 12th Parliament are currently vacant.
At the outset of the oath-taking ceremony, BNP leader Salauddin Ahmed said that, following instructions from party chief Tarique Rahman, all BNP MPs-elect have been asked not to sign the Constitution Reform Council form, as they were not elected as members of the council, according to the daily.
Newly elected MPs of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami will not take any oath if BNP lawmakers decline to be sworn in as members of the Constitutional Reform Council, the party’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said.
Taher told Prothom Alo that the swearing-in for their newly elected MPs is scheduled for 12 pm, and they will attend. However, he stressed that unless BNP MPs take the oath for the Constitutional Reform Council oath, Jamaat’s MPs will refuse to be sworn in, as they consider a parliament without reforms meaningless.
