After 35 years, newly elected MPs take oath from chief election commissioner

It marks a rare constitutional procedure

For the first time in 35 years, the newly elected members of parliament have taken their oath from the chief election commissioner.

With the speaker absent, the deputy speaker in detention, and no presidential nominee appointed, CEC AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oaths on Tuesday at the South Plaza of parliament in strict accordance with the Constitution.

In a rare constitutional procedure, Nasir read two separate oaths for MPs simultaneously.

On Tuesday, 296 parliamentarians took their oath in multiple phases.

The first 208, representing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), were sworn in, followed by allies and independents in staggered sessions, bringing the total to 219.

They took only the parliamentary oath, not that of the Constitution Reform Council.

Meanwhile, 77 MPs from the Jamaat-e-Islami and allied parties took both oaths, completing their formal induction.

Other participants included six National Citizen Party (NCP) MPs, one each from Islamic Andolan Bangladesh and Khelafat Majlis, two from Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, one from the Bangladesh Jatiya Party-BJP, one from the Ganosamhati Andolon, one from Gono Odhikar Parishad, and seven independents.

Electoral System Reform Commission member and former Election Commission official Jasmine Tuli said similar interventions occurred after HM Ershad’s fall when the CEC administered the oath amid disputes.

Former EC officer Mihir Sarwar Morshed recalled how in 1991 the BNP had refused to take their oath under a speaker linked to the prior authoritarian regime, leading the CEC to step in -- a precedent repeated now after 35 years.