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Published on January 9, 2014
The ceremony began at 10am Thursday at the oath-taking chamber with the Speaker reading out the oath to Awami League MPs first. Since they are the biggest bloc in the parliament, the oath was first administered to them and others followed.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and MPs of her party took oath in the first phase.
They repeated after the Speaker saying, “I declare that I will carry out the duty I am accepting with loyalty and with accordance to the law. I will be loyal towards Bangladesh…I will not let my individual interests override my duty as Member of Parliament.”
In the 10th National Election, candidates in 153 constituencies out of the total 300 had been elected without any contest. In 139 constituencies, lawmakers were elected after contest, while repolling takes place in eight other seats on Jan 16.
According to the gazette published by the EC, the Awami League has 229 MPs in the 10th Parliament, Jatiya Party 33, Workers' Party of Bangladesh 6, JaSaD 5, independents 14, and one each of Twarikat Federation, BNF and JP (Monju).
The new MPs then wrote down their constituencies in the oath document and signed it.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury then handed flowers to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
All preparations for oath taking were completed on Wednesday night. Visitors faced much difficulty entering the Parliament Secretariat.
Security officials were seen scanning the 'Oath-taking Chamber and surrounding areas with dogs from 8am Thursday.
Two television monitors have been placed outside the room. Three hundred chairs have been put in front of it. Joint Secretary of the Parliament Secretariat Wahidul Islam said the arrangement was for those who can’t enter the chamber.
On Wednesday, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury personally checked out the the Parliament’s 'Oath-taking Chamber'.
The Election Commission (EC) has released the gazette for the lawmakers elected in the polls.
It was published on Wednesday with details of 290 MPs with the EC’s approval.
But 289 lawmakers take oath on Thursday, as Sheikh Hasina has chosen to retain Gopalganj-3 as her constituency, giving up Rangpur-6.
Sheikh Afiluddin, elected from Jessore-1, and Manirul Islam from Jessore-2 have been kept out of the gazette, as both face allegations of breaching the electoral code of conduct.
New MPs must be sworn in within three days of the publication of gazette in keeping with the Constitution.
The Parliament is supposed to start its session within 30 days of oath being administered to the lawmakers.
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