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Five more political parties on Thursday submitted their opinions providing different suggestions on the draft July National Charter 2025.

A day earlier, the National Consensus Commission received responses from six parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, by the initial deadline for opinion submissions.

Amid low responses, the commission had extended the deadline until Friday 3:00pm.

On Thursday, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Khelafat Majlis, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, and Liberal Democratic Party submitted their opinions.

Altogether, 11 parties out of the 30 that joined the first and second rounds of the NCC dialogues have shared opinions.

The draft charter is structured in three parts: a prologue outlining the historical context of reform initiatives, 84 reform issues ‘agreed’ by most parties, and a covenant.

Jamaat assistant general secretary Hamidur Rahman Khan Azad said that his party identified ‘conflicting issues’ and ‘discrepancies’ in the draft.

Azad, who was among the Jamaat delegates attending the NCC reform dialogues, refused to provide details about their party’s opinions.

‘We agree on the covenant part. However, we have suggested that the commission identify the immediately implementable reform issues and mention a timeline in the covenant,’ Azad said.

Without detailing, Khelafat Majlis secretary general Ahmad Abdul Kader said that his party strongly recommended the implementation of all the provisions in the charter with a legal compulsion.

Section 8 of the draft covenant says that the signatory parties agree that any proposals and recommendations of the charter, which are immediately implementable, shall be executed in full by the interim government and relevant authorities without delay, prior to the next national parliamentary elections.

Replying to a question about the constitution-related reforms, he said, ‘We have recommended issuing ordinances for incorporating reforms in the constitution.’ He said that his party was against a referendum as the method was ‘time-consuming’.

The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, in its opinion, recommended that ‘democracy’ be included in the state’s fundamental principles along with equality, human dignity, social justice, religious freedom, and harmony, as mentioned in the draft’s section 7.

‘We have suggested the inclusion of the charter as a separate chapter in the constitution,’ said JSD general secretary Shahid Uddin Mahmod Shapon.

Moreover, the party recommended omitting the draft covenant’s section 4 that says the charter shall not be questioned in any court.

The LDP in its opinion opposed the draft charter’s section 4 point, among the agreed 84, that recommends repealing the constitution’s article 7B. The party also questioned section 3 and section 4 of the covenant part.

The draft covenant’s section 3 says that the authority to make final decision on any questions relating to the interpretation of any provision, proposal, or recommendation of the charter shall rest with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

LDP secretary general Redwan Ahmed said, ‘We have recommended that the Proclamation of Independence of 10th April, 1971, be preserved as protected by article 7B.’

He further said that his party raised concern about the covenant part that mentions the Appellate Division as the only interpreter of the charter.

‘Seeking an interpretation from the Appellate Division follows a legally defined procedure which is missing in the covenant. Moreover, we have strongly opposed the covenant’s section 4 that terms the charter unquestionable in any court,’ Redwan said, adding that his party suggested a two-year timeline after the formation of the next parliament for implementing the charter.

SPB (Marxist) viewed that the draft charter wrongly described it as an ‘unanimously accepted’ charter.

Since the reform issues were not agreed by ‘most of the parties’, the covenant for including the charter in the constitution is invalid, the party said in its opinion.

The party strongly opposed parts of the historical context of the reforms and the omission of secularism and socialism from the state’s fundamental principles.

SPB (Marxist) chief coordinator Masud Rana said that his party considered the draft covenant’s section 3 and 4 ‘conflicting’.