Newly elected MPs likely to take oath on 16 Feb

The newly elected lawmakers are likely to take the oath of office on 16 February, with Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury administering the oath, according to the Parliament Secretariat.

The chief justice will conduct the swearing-in ceremony as the president’s designated representative, sources at the Parliament Secretariat said on Friday.

It is learnt that the gazette of the newly elected MPs is likely to be published on Saturday. Following this, the Parliament Secretariat will arrange the oath-taking event within three days.

This fresh development comes just a day after the 13th parliamentary election in 299 of the 300 constituencies and the referendum on the July National Charter were held simultaneously on 12 February.

The Election Commission announced the unofficial results of 297 parliamentary seats and postponed the announcement of results in two constituencies – Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4.

Voting in the Sherpur-3 constituency was postponed due to the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate.

Securing a landslide victory with 209 seats so far, the BNP is going to form the next government.

Rival party Jamaat-e-Islami bagged 68 seats, while its electoral alliance NCP won six constituencies in the election.

On 5 February, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul explained the legal procedure for administering the oath.

According to the law, he said, if the speaker or the deputy speaker is unable to administer the oath, an individual nominated by the president will do so, and this nomination will be made on the advice of the chief adviser.

There is another provision — if the oath is not administered within three days, the chief election commissioner may also administer it, he added.