BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed has announced that a political consensus has been reached to ensure opposition party participation in crucial parliamentary reforms and constitutional amendments.
As part of this agreement, the opposition will be granted the leadership of several significant parliamentary standing committees.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday (June 17) during a break in a multiparty dialogue with the Consensus Commission on constitutional amendments at the Foreign Service Academy, Salahuddin Ahmed outlined the developments.
According to him, the opposition will chair key committees including the public accounts committee (pac), the privileges committee, the estimates committee and the public undertakings committee.
“These positions will be allocated based on the number of seats held by the opposition,” Salahuddin Ahmed stated.
He further said that during discussions on the amendment of Article 69 of the constitution, all parties have reached an initial consensus on two specific issues: votes of confidence and money bills.
On these matters, Members of Parliament (MPs) must follow their respective party’s position. However, MPs will be allowed to vote independently on other issues.
This flexibility will be clearly stated in a National Charter to be signed by all participating parties.
The BNP has submitted an additional written proposal recommending that MPs should not have the freedom to vote independently on matters related to national security.
Salahuddin noted that this proposal is still under discussion and may be incorporated if the BNP assumes governing responsibility in the future.
He also mentioned that there is unanimous agreement among the parties to reserve 100 seats for women in Parliament.
However, the method of electing these reserved seats remains under deliberation, and no final decision has been made yet.
Further dialogue on these topics is expected to continue in the coming days.
