Bangladesh
9th Parliament closes Friday
The Constitution stipulates the dissolution the Parliament five years after its maiden meeting. However, the President can dissolve it before its term ends.
Led by the Awami League, the 9th Parliament got going on Jan 25, 2009.
“We will publish a gazette on the end of the 9th Parliament’s tenure tomorrow (Friday),” Parliament Secretary Ashraful Maqbool told bdnews24.com.
He said a file had been sent to the Speaker and a gazette would be published after her approval.
File Photo
Parliament’s Rules of Procedure mandates publishing a gazette notification on the dissolution a House.
The 10th general elections were held on Jan 5 under the supervision of the Awami League-led government. The BNP and its allies had boycotted the polls, pressing for a fresh election under a non-party caretaker government.
Newly elected MPs were sworn in on Jan 9, giving rise to a debate on the 9th Parliament’s tenure.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury had skirted questions on this issue.
“It requires legal explanations. I cannot say anything on it,” she had said, sidestepping the questions.
Replying to a bdnews24.com query on Thursday, she said: “A gazette will be published as per the rule. I’ll sign the file when I get it.”
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam had termed ‘unfounded’ the controversy of MPs of a new Parliament taking oath when another Parliament’s tenure had not ended.
On Jan 9, he had told reporters that such questions could have been raised had the 10th Parliament gone into session before Jan 24.
However, on the same day, replying to a question, Awami League’s General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam had said: “The 9th Parliament has been dissolved with the swearing-in of new Parliament’s MPs.”
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