All the 29 political parties attending the meeting on the third day of the second round of National Consensus Commission-hosted dialogue on Tuesday agreed that lawmakers could vote against bills except the finance bill and confidence motion, going against their respective parties.
To free lawmakers from absolute party domination, the politicians overwhelmingly agreed to reform the related Article 70 of the constitution that bars lawmakers from going against their parties.
This political agreement will be included in a national charter to be finalised by July, said NCC vice-chair Professor Ali Riaz.
However, the meeting decided to keep the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-proposed bar on lawmakers from voting against any bill related to constitutional amendment and war-time national security as a note of descent in the charter.
Inaugurated by the interim government’s chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on June 2, Tuesday’s meeting of the NCC’s second-round dialogue with political parties held at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital Dhaka.
Although delegates from major political parties, including the BNP, were present at the meeting, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami abstained from attending Tuesday’s meeting.
Participants of the meeting discussed the reform in Article 70, the selection of parliamentary standing committee chairpersons, the representation of women in the legislature, the proposed bicameral parliament and the appointment process of the chief justice.
The meeting witnessed the majority agreed on a bicameral legislature and increasing women’s representation in the parliament, though the issues were deferred amid huge debates on the composition of the bicameral legislature and the electoral process of the reserved seats for women.
BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said that political parties would reach a consensus on reforms and advance for the much expected national election through the series of dialogues.Â
In the meeting, most of the parties agreed to make opposition lawmakers the chairs of the parliamentary committees on public accounts, privilege, estimation and public undertakings.
Regarding the representation of women in the legislature, most of the parties, including the BNP, the Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, the Ganosamhati Andolan, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD and parties under the Left Democratic Alliance, agreed to increase the reserve seats for women from the existing 50 to 100.
However, many parties opposed the Electoral Reform Commission-proposed rotational nomination system for women’s reserved seats while some others expressed their reservation on increasing the reserved seats.
Islami Oikya Jote secretary general Mawlana Shakhawat Hossain Razi questioned quota for women while Islami Andolan Bangladesh senior joint secretary general Maolana Gazi Ataur Rahman said, ‘There is no relevance of increasing the number of reserved seats for women with the movement against the fascist Awami League regime.’
Parties, including the National Citizen Party, the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist) and the Bangladesh Labour Party, recommended direct election to 100 reserved seats for women while the Ganosamhati Andolan supported a rotational nomination system for women to contest the reserved seats by direct vote.
Amid huge debates on the nomination criteria and the election process of the reserved seats for women, the NCC decided to postpone the discussion over the particular issue until the next week.
Regarding the Constitution Reform Commission-proposed bicameral legislature, NCC vice-chair Ali Riaz said that more than two-thirds of the parties in the previous meetings agreed to the proposed bicameral legislature.
At Tuesday’s meeting, many parties, including the BNP, the Rashtra Sangskar Andolan, the Islami Andolan Bangladesh, the Khelafat Majlish, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod, the JSD, the NCP, the Amar Bangladesh Party and the Ganosamhati Andolan, supported the bicameral legislature.
The parties, however, recommended that the upper house should be of 100 members instead of the proposed 105.Â
However, parties, including the CPB, the Gano Forum and the Socialist Party of Bangladesh disagreed ‘in principle’ to the proposal.
Amid huge debates on the election process for the upper house, the NCC postponed the related discussion until the next meetings.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the majority of the parties agreed that the president should appoint the chief justice from among two most senior judges of the Appellate Division.
Despite debates over the role of the Supreme Judicial Council and the relevance of the recently issued Supreme Court Judges Appointment Ordinance, 2025, in the context of appointing the chief justice, the NCC vice-chair said that further discussion would help reach a consensus among the parties on the issue.
NCC members Badiual Alam Majumder, Iftekharuzzaman, Safar Raj Hossian, Ayub Ali, Justice Emdadul Haque, and chief adviser’s special assistant Monir Haidar were present at Tuesday’s meeting.
After the meeting, the NCC vice-chair and the politicians briefed journalists.
Today’s meeting of the second round of the dialogue will be held at the same venue. The agenda of the today’s meeting include the proposed National Constitutional Council and the appointment of the president, said a NCC press release.Â
