Dhaka, February 17 Members of Parliament from Jamaat-e-Islami, a right-wing party in Bangladesh, who were newly elected, refused to take the oath of office on Tuesday after the BNP, the victorious party, declined to take the pledge as members of the "Constitution Reform Council."
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasirudin administered the oath of office to the Members of Parliament of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the first phase inside the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, and the Jamaat MPs were next in line to take the oath.
The situation became complicated after the BNP declined to take the second oath as members of the "Constitution Reform Council" to endorse the referendum.
"We will not take any oath unless the BNP MPs take an oath as members of the "Constitution Reform Council" along with regular parliament members," said Abdullah Mohammad Taher, the deputy chief of Jamaat.
He said their party believed that "parliament without constitutional reform is meaningless."
The second oath was aimed at obligating the MPs to implement the "July Charter," which demands a massive rewriting of the Constitution, while the 84-point complex proposal was presented in the referendum in a recognized but nearly esoteric form for voting.
The election commission reported that over 60 per cent of voters cast a "yes" vote in the referendum.
"We have not been elected as members of the Constitution Reform Council; no provision of the council has been incorporated in the Constitution," said Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of the BNP's policy-making standing committee and a newly elected MP.
He conveyed this decision to the party MPs, as directed by BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman, as they gathered in the Parliament hall to take the oath.
"None of us (BNP members) will take the second oath," Ahmed said.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won 209 out of 297 seats, while Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats in the 13th Parliamentary elections. Sheikh Hasina's Awami League was barred from contesting the polls.
Awami League was disqualified from the February 12 polls, after which Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP's once-longtime ally and now hardened rival, emerged as the main opposition.
According to the official schedule, President Mohammad Shahabuddin would administer the oath of office of the cabinet, installing the BNP in power in the afternoon, after the majority party members are set to elect their leader.
The Bangladesh Constitution dictates that the President invite the majority party leader to form the government and administer the cabinet's oath, while the BNP said the cabinet would be led by party Chairman Tarique Rahman as the next Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
The BNP earlier said the party chairman would be the new prime minister of the country.
The BNP has invited about 1,200 domestic and foreign guests to the event.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will represent India at the swearing-in ceremony of Rahman. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary-General of Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh are also likely to accompany Birla.
Maldives President Mohammed Muizzoo, Turkish Undersecretary Beris Ekinci and Sri Lanka's Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr Nalinda Jayatissa would be among those attending Rahman's oath ceremony.
