Dhaka, February 14 Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin is expected to administer the oath of office to the new cabinet of BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman within the next four days, officials said on Saturday.
Rahman's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured a sweeping victory on Friday, winning more than two-thirds of the seats in the landmark parliamentary elections held on Thursday.
Rahman is set to become the prime minister, replacing the interim government chief Muhammad Yunus.
"In line with the Constitution, the president will administer the oath at Bangabhaban (presidential palace)," Cabinet Secretary Sheikh Abdur Rashid said, without specifying a date for the oath ceremony.
However, a senior BNP policymaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told PTI that the swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place on February 16 or 17.
The Constitution requires the cabinet oath-taking ceremony to be followed by the swearing-in of new parliament members, while a key aide to Rahman said the current legal situation makes the issue somewhat complicated.
"The speaker of the previous parliament was supposed to conduct the oath-taking ceremony for the MPs, but she resigned and is currently living in an undisclosed location. The deputy speaker is in jail," he said, requesting anonymity.
In such circumstances, he said, the president might select someone to conduct the event of administering the lawmakers' oath, as "the Constitution has provided for such an eventuality."
The Cabinet Secretary, meanwhile, said the Constitution states that the elected MPs must take the oath within three days of the gazette notification, after which the majority party will elect its parliamentary leader. The gazette notification was issued on Saturday morning.
When asked for a possible date for the cabinet's swearing-in, Rashid said that no date has been fixed yet.
"If we are instructed or informed that it will be held on a certain date and time, we will proceed accordingly. Even if it is tomorrow, we will have to prepare for it. We will be able to inform you of the date once we are informed," the top bureaucrat said.
Law ministry officials said that since the gazette notification was issued on Saturday, the three-day period for the oath-taking can be considered from Sunday, covering February 15, 16, and 17.
The 13th Parliamentary election was significant as it was held after a period of tumultuous political vacuum, instability, and a fragile security situation, including widespread attacks on minorities following the student-led protests that brought down the 15-year rule of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Hasina fled to India on August 5 that year, and three days later, Yunus took over as the Chief Adviser of the Interim government.
According to the Election Commission (EC), the BNP has won 209 out of 297 seats, while the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats. Hasina's Awami League party was barred from contesting the polls, which recorded a voter turnout of 59.44 per cent.
The EC postponed the announcement of results in two seats - Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4, while the election in one seat was postponed due to the death of a candidate.
