Staff Reporter:
President Mohammed Shahabuddin will administer the oath to the new cabinet members at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad this afternoon.
“The Parliament Secretariat is set to hold the oath taking ceremony of the new cabinet members at 4:00 pm today. Earlier, the Parliament Members (MPs) will be sowrn-in at 10:00 am at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Complex,” Secretary of the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat Kaniz Maula told .
The Cabinet Division and the Parliament Secretariat took all-out preparations for the oath-taking cere-mony since Saturday, two days after the 13th Jatiya Sangsad polls held, she added.
Breaking with a long-standing tradition, the swearing-in ceremony of the new government is going to be held at the South Plaza of the Parliament Complex instead of Bangabhaban.
The cabinet secretary will conduct the oath-taking ceremony, a Bangabhaban source familiar with the development said.
As per the rules, following the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Members of Parliament (MPs), a meeting of the Parliamentary Board of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that has secured overwhelming majority will be held to elect its parliamentary leader, according to a BNP source.
The leader of the House will then meet the President and inform him that the party commands an abso-lute majority in the Parliament, formally seeking appointment as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Subsequently, the President will appoint the party leader as Prime Minister, who will select other cabinet colleagues.
President Shahabuddin as the Head of the State will administer the oath first to the Prime Minister, fol-lowed by the ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers on the day.
According to the constitution, elected members are required to take oath within three days of the gazette publication.
On Friday night, the Election Commission published the gazette for 297 out of 299 parliamentary seats in the 13th parliamentary polls.
In this election, BNP-led by its Chairman Tarique Rahman secured an absolute majority by winning 209 seats. Their one-time ally Jamaat-e-Islami is going to sit in the main opposition party with 68 seats. Oth-er parties and independent candidates have won the remaining seats.
