National Citizens’ Party (NCP) spokesperson Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan said, “The new parliament’s journey began by flouting the public mandate of the referendum on its very first day.”
He made this comment in a status update on his Facebook account on Tuesday morning (February 17).
Earlier, in another Facebook post, Asif Mahmud wrote that the oath-taking ceremony of the Constitution Reform Council should be held on Tuesday as scheduled. He stated, ‘If reluctance is expressed to take oath as a member of the Constitution Reform Council on the argument of "it’s not in the constitution," then there is no justification for taking oath as a Member of Parliament either.’
It is noteworthy that last Thursday, a referendum was held on the question of implementing the ‘July National Charter’ alongside the 13th national parliamentary election. NCP leaders claim that with the ‘Yes’ vote winning in the referendum, the responsibility for implementing the reform proposals of the July Charter falls upon the Constitution Reform Council.
According to the NCP’s interpretation, the elected members of the 13th Parliament will serve as members of this Council. Therefore, in addition to taking oath as Members of Parliament, they also need to take a separate oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council.
However, Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of the party’s Standing Committee, does not fully agree on this matter. Speaking to journalists on Monday, he said, “If this is incorporated into the constitution, amendments are brought accordingly, the format of the oath is prescribed in the Third Schedule of the Constitution, and who will administer the oath is also determined—only after all these processes are completed can the matter become effective.”
In response to Salahuddin Ahmed’s statement, Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan questioned in a Facebook post, “Under which constitution was the 2026 election, Mr. Salahuddin Ahmed?”