Oath Before Ramadan: Swearing-in of MPs, Cabinet Imminent
The swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Members of Parliament will be held before the start of Ramadan, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has said. Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Sheikh Abdur Rashid confirmed that, in accordance with the Constitution, the new members of the Cabinet will be administered the oath by the President.
He made the remarks while speaking to journalists at the Secretariat on Saturday, February 14. The current President is Mohammad Shahabuddin, who was appointed during the Awami League tenure.
The Cabinet Secretary also stated that approximately 1,000 guests will be invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet.
Earlier, during a briefing with journalists at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital, senior government sources and the Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary indicated that the oath-taking ceremony for the newly elected MPs could take place on February 15 or 16. The Prime Minister’s swearing-in and the formal assumption of office by the new Cabinet may occur on February 17 or 18.
The Press Secretary said that all preparations for the swearing-in ceremony have already been completed. The process of transferring responsibilities from the Chief Adviser and the interim Cabinet is currently underway.
Responding to a question regarding reports that 200 percent votes were cast at a particular polling center, he described the claim as false reporting. According to him, it was essentially a printing error, and the journalist concerned had published the report without speaking to the Returning Officer. The mistake was later corrected.
On the other hand, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul said that full authority would be handed over to the elected government by February 17 or 18, before the holy month of Ramadan begins. With this transition, the interim government’s tenure of more than one and a half years will come to an end, marking the beginning of a new democratic chapter for Bangladesh.
DBTech/SH/SI/OR
