BNP members sworn in as MPs; party says they will not take oath for changing existing constitution

Members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party who won in the just concluded Parliamentary election were sworn-in as members of Jatiyo Sansad, the Parliament of Bangladesh on Tuesday (February 17, 2026).

However, the 212 members of the BNP-led alliance did not take the oath for the Constitution Reforms Commission, with leading members saying such a commission is outside of the law. The Election Commission of Bangladesh had announced on Monday (February 16, 2026) that the oath-taking ceremony would include both the oaths of the membership to the Parliament as well as membership to the Constitution Reforms Commission.

Earlier this morning, Chairman of BNP Tarique Rahman led the alliance members to the Parliament where they were administered the oath of membership of the Parliament by Chief Election Commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin in the Oath Taking Hall of the Parliament.

However, minutes after the first oath, Mr. Rahman led the MPs out of the hall for the first meeting of the BNP parliamentary party.

Sources said that the meeting was meant to finalise the shape of the cabinet. Earlier, standing committee member of the BNP Salahuddin Ahmed had announced that the party would not take the oath for Constitution Reforms Commission understandably because the oath for such a commission would counter the oath for MPs which includes upholding the integrity of the constitution of Bangladesh.

There were also doubts about the shape of the Constitution Reforms Commission but BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami sources confirmed to The Hindu that the entire Parliament was expected to serve as a reforms commission for 180 days.

Constitution Reform Commission

The oath taking ceremony was paused after the BNP members were sworn in with the members of the opposition bloc not showing up with reports that the elected members of the Jamaat-e-Islami –led 11-party alliance are now reconsidering whether to take oath of the Parliament at all.

A Jamaat source has said that the party will launch an agitation if BNP avoids taking the second oath which aims to turn the Jatiyo Sansad into a constitution reform body. After taking oath, BNP’s Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Choudhury said that the issue of Constitution Reforms Commission does not reflect the spirit of the present Bangladesh constitution and said, “We have taken oath as people have voted for us and taking oath is a way to honour people’s trust. That apart, if anyone does not want to take oath of office, then that is a private matter of such individuals. We have taken oath as this is a new beginning of democracy in our country.”  However, after a gap of around an hour, the 11-party alliance led by the JeI, and independent candidates reached the Parliament and were sworn in as members of the Parliament. They also took a second oath for the Constitution Reform Commission. 

July Charter

The twin-oath procedure was conceived to integrate the results of the Parliamentary election as well as referendum for extensive constitutional amendment by including the ‘July Charter’ into the constitution. The July Charter, a document that was adopted by the interim government in consultation with political parties on October 17, 2025 is based on recommendations that were received to change governance in Bangladesh after the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, 2024. The BNP has said that though they had signed the July Charter on October 17, 2025, the final text of the July Charter has gone far beyond what they had agreed to.

In the meanwhile, BNP has indicated that they will go ahead with the swearing-in of the government by 4 p.m. of Tuesday (February 17, 2026) as planned earlier. Foreign dignitaries have started arriving since early morning. Among those who have already landed in Dhaka are the President of the Maldives Mohamed Muizzu who was received by foreign affairs adviser of the interim government Touhid Hossein and Pakistan’s Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary. Mr. Chaudhary has met the Special Adviser Prof Mohammed Yunus in the State Guest House Jamuna in Dhaka. .