Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina got an absolute majority in the 12th national parliament elections, but no other party in the parliament could stand as an individual opposition party.
According to the constitution, the winning party in the parliamentary elections may pursue for women`s seats individually. They may establish an alliance with other parties or independent members of parliament. The Act establishes specific procedures for allocating seats.
Independent candidates are in the second position in the parliament this time. And Jatiya Party is in the third position. Three other parties got three seats. Parties get the opportunity to nominate 50 reserved women seats in Parliament according to their percentage of positions.
But since independent candidates being in the second position do not belong to any party, as passing days question arises if they will form a united front? Or will they go to the opposition camp by supporting a party, or will some or most of these 62 winners (58 Awami League leaders) support the government party? These confusions are not yet cleared. Meanwhile, a new issue arose as to how the 12th parliament will divide the 50 reserved seats for women.
Who will get how many seats reserved for women in the 12th national parliament?
Ruling Awami League will get 37 seats since they got abosulte majority by winning 223 seats. Jatiya Party will get two seats. 11 seats remain vacant. Now if the other three parties who got three seats form an alliance or not, they will be allocated one seat against the three seats as per the law.
On June 30, 2011, the number of reserved women members in Parliament was increased to 50 through the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. And in the 17th amendment brought on January 29, 2018, the rules for electing members of parliament for reserved women`s seats were upheld for another 25 years.
Therefore, according to the constitution of Bangladesh, a certain number of women MPs from a party will be given an opportunity; and that will be in proportion to how many representatives that party has in the parliament.
That is, if six members of a political party are elected MPs, then one candidate from that party will be the MP of the reserved women`s seat.
Elections for the 50 reserved seats for women must be held within 90 days of the gazette publication of the general election results. The 12th National Assembly election was held on January 7 and the gazette was published on January 9.
In this circumstances there is no issue regarding the reserved women`s seats of Awami League, Jatiya Party and other three parties, but questions have arisen about the independent candidates who won 62 seats.
In this situation, independent candidate MPs are getting multiple options to get reserved seats. In this case, they can join any political party or alliance if they want. Or they themselves can form one or more independent non-partisan alliances. The formation of such an alliance must be intimated in writing to the Election Commission (EC) within 21 working days (February 6) of the publication of the gazette of the general election results.
Again, if any of the independent candidate joins any party, it will be considered that the `non-party alliance` has been formed with those who remain as independents.
Most of the independent MPs are Awami League leaders. They say they are waiting for Awami League president Sheikh Hasina`s decision on reserved women`s seats.
Independent Member of Parliament of Kishoreganj-2 Sohrab Uddin told the media that the independent members of Parliament will get 10 or more reserved seats. Although many of them think of forming groups, individual MPs have not yet formally started discussions. Although he is an independent member of Parliament, he is a leader of Awami League. He will work according to the instructions of the Prime Minister.
"Decision of Parliament Leader and Speaker is final"
When asked about this, Badiul Alam Majumder, founding editor of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN) told The Report.live, "Tere is no precedent and no specific policy regarding reserved women`s seats for independents. If they do not form an alliance within the specified time, their seats will be distributed according to the decision of the Speaker and the Leader of the Parliament".
He also said that the decision of the parliament leader and speaker will be considered as final.
When asked about this, former Election Commissioner Md Shah Newaz told The Report.live that he does not have a clear idea about this matter.
This perspective allows us to comprehend the complexities of the situation.
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