The 10th Jatiya Sangsad [national parliament] begins today [Wednesday] at 6:00pm. This will also be the maiden session of 2014.
President Abdul Hamid had convened the first session of the 10th JS in line with the article 72[1] of the Constitution on January 13. The tenure of the 9th parliament expired on January 24.
As per tradition, the President will address the House on the first day, outlining the steps of the newly formed government. He is likely to join the session by taking place at the President Plaza, which will be used after a long time.
Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the new parliament will be elected at today’s inaugural sitting with outgoing speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. After that, the President Abdul Hamid will administer the oath of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker at the President’s chamber.
Chief Whip of the Parliament ASM Feroz said: “AL Parliamentary Party [ALPP] has already nominated the names for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Besides, the Business Advisory Committee has taken decision about the duration of the first session.”
Awami League [AL] secured absolute majority in 10th Jatiya Sangsad [JS] by bagging 232 seats in the January 5 election. Besides, the Jatiya Party [JP] has become the second largest party in the parliament bagging 33 seats.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the president of AL, has been elected Leader of the House for the 10th parliament.
In this backdrop, the BNP, one of the major political parties and its allies will be absent from the House after the 23-year of the parliamentary history.
But curiosity grows among the concerned circle when the JP will sit in the opposition bench, although three of its lawmakers have joined the cabinet and its chairman HM Ershad has been appointed as a special envoy to the Prime Minister.
As a part of preparation of the first session of the new parliament, the PM Sheikh Hasina and Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury met separately President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban yesterday afternoon.
President congratulated Hasina for becoming the PM for the third time and wished all-out success of her new government. It was the first meeting between the President and the Premier after new cabinet took oath on January 12.
ALPP nominates Shirin as Speaker again
Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury yesterday got the nomination of Speaker again while Chowdhury Fazle Rabbi nominated for the post of Deputy Speaker for the 10th parliament.
The decisions were taken at the first meeting of ALPP held yesterday evening chaired by PM Sheikh Hasina. Besides, senior AL presidium member Syeda Sazeda Chowdhury has been made Deputy Leader of the House at the same meeting.
Shirin, an MP for the women’s reserved seat in 2009, was elected country’s first woman speaker on April 30, 2013 as her predecessor Abdul Hamid was elected President. Sazeda Chowdhury had also discharged her duties as Deputy Leader of the House in the previous ninth parliament.
Earlier in the morning, Shirin Sharmin was elected unopposed from Rangpur-6 constituency as there was no other candidate to contest her.
Returning Officer and also the Deputy Commissioner of Rangpur Farid Ahmed declared the result formally yesterday. He also issued a notification declaring Shirin elected unopposed and has already sent it to the Election Commission [EC] office.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier vacated the constituency and Shirin Sharmin was the only candidate in the by-poll. According to the electoral rule, the EC can announce Shirin the winner if she remains the lone candidate and her nomination papers are submitted correctly.
The EC published gazette notification just with a few hours yesterday to pave the way for Dr Shirin.
