Oath taking ceremony of new MPs, ‘Constitution Reform Commission’ and new Bangladesh government on February 17

The new members of the Parliament of Bangladesh will be sworn in at 10 a.m. Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the Election Commission of Bangladesh has announced adding that a “Constitution Reform Commission” will also be administered oath. This event will be followed by the formation of the government in the afternoon when the Cabinet led by BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman will be sworn in. Around 1,200 local and foreign guests will participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Chairman Rahman and his cabinet on Tuesday (February 17) afternoon, the media wing of the BNP has announced.

The announcement of swearing-in of both MPs alongside members of “Constitution Reform Commission” has surprised many newly elected MPs. Speaking to The Hindu, a newly elected MP said that the EC of Bangladesh had not informed the MPs about the swearing-in of the Constitution Reform Commission. Acccording to a version, the entire parliament will work as a “Constitution Reform Commission” for 180 days as an outcome of the referendum that got majority ‘yes’ vote on February 12 and as a result all MPs will be sworn in as the member of the Constitution Reform Commission as well. There is evident unease within the newly elected MPs especially from the BNP, about the process in which the tasks of the Constitution Reform Commission and the parliamentary duties of MPs will unfold.

Among those who have confirmed to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the incoming government are Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla and Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal. The foreign minister of the interim government of Nepal Bala Nanda Sharma, and Sri Lanka’s health minister Nalinda Jayatissa will also attend the event. Multiple other countries including Qatar, Malaysia and Brunei will send high level delegates to the swearing in ceremony.

Seema Malhotra, Indo-Pacific Under Secretary of the United Kingdom will represent the UK at the event and the President of the Maldives Mohamed Muizzu is expected to attend as well. Apart from that heads of multiple diplomatic missions based in Dhaka will also attend the event that will be held in the premises of Bangladesh’s parliament – Jatiyo Sansad.

The swearing-in ceremony of the BNP government will mark the end of the interim government led by Chief Adviser Mohammed Yunus that had taken charge after the fall of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina. Prof. Yunus delivered a farewell speech at the Chief Adviser’s Office Monday evening. The Chief Adviser had taken charge on August 8, 2024 and he presided over the last meeting of the Advisory Council on Monday.

“The election was not just a process to handover power. It was the election that marked the beginning of new Bangladesh,” said Prof. Yunus in a speech delivered in the evening on state-owned BTV saying that the police in Bangladesh no longer tortures common people.

“We have to ensure that never again fascism raises its head in our country. That is why interim government prioritised institutional reforms,” said Prof Yunus further. One of the major projects of the interim government was the drafting ofhte July Charter that was adopted by a large spectrum of political parties on October 17, 2017. The National Citizen Party which is in the opposition as part of the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami had not signed the Charter earlier, however, the party signed the July Charter on Monday evening. “Interim government’s biggest work is the July Charter. People have hugely supported the July Charter in the referendum. I call upon all political parties to ensure that the July Charter is adopted,” said Prof. Yunus.