The maiden session of the 11th parliament will begin on January 30, just within 31 days of the national election held on December 30 with participation of all the registered political parties.
President Abdul Hamid on Wednesday convened the session exercising his power bestowed upon him by article 72 (1) of the Constitution.It will also be the first session of the New Year, which will start at 3pm on the day, according to a Parliament Secretariat release.
The five-year tenure of the outgoing parliament will expire on January 28 as its first sitting was held on January 29, 2014 after the 10th general election held on January 5, 2014.The 10th parliament during its current tenure sat 23 times that witnessed 410 business days. Some 198 bills were placed and 193 of them were passed.
The opposition did not boycott Parliament, but they staged walkout for three times while the Leader of the Opposition was present in the House for 242 days.Leader of the House and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present in the 10th Parliament for 338 days.The last session (23rd session) of the 10th parliament was prorogued on October 29 last year.
Awami League won an absolute majority bagging 257 seats in the recent election.Jatiya Party secured 22 seats and will act as the main opposition in parliament. The party has already announced that its chairman HM Ershad will be the opposition leader in parliament while his brother and party cochairman GM Quader deputy opposition leader.
Though BNP and its alliance partners joined the election, the party bagged only six seats while its alliance partner Gano Forum two seats.
However, the Jatiya Oikyafront MPs still did not take the oath of office.
On Monday, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina along with her 46 cabinet members took oath following her party’s massive victory in the 11th national election.
Apart from the Prime Minister, there are 24 ministers, 19 state ministers and three deputy ministers in the new cabinet.Of the 47-member cabinet, 27 are new faces who are picked in a bid to infuse dynamism into the cabinet activities to implement the election manifesto the ruling party placed before the nation.
Unlike the previous government, no one out of Awami League was inducted in the cabinet. At the beginning of the session, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House are supposed to be elected and they will be sworn in by the President.
During her election campaign in Rangpur, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hinted at reelecting current Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.However, it is still not clear who is going to be elected as the Deputy Speaker of the House.As per the convention, the President will first address the session and the MPs will address on his speech all over the session.
source: UNB
