Sheikh Hasina becomes prime minister for a fourth consecutive term, and fifth in total, and forms a 37-member cabinet with change of guards in major ministries this time.
The council of ministers the Awami League president leads comprises 25 ministers and 11 ministers of state.
After the oath taking, the prime minister allocated portfolios to the members of her cabinet to run ministries of the government.
AKM Mozammel Haque retains the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, Obaidul Quader stays in charge of his Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun unchanged at the Ministry of Industries, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal remains Minister for Home Affairs, Dr Hasan Mahmud becomes new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Dipu Moni goes to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Tajul Islam continues at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, Farooq Khan becomes Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali new Minister for Finance, Advocate Anisul Haq holds on to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdus Shaheed becomes Agriculture Minister, Sadhan Chandra Majumder keeps the Ministry of Food, RAM Ubaidul Mokhtadir Chowdhury made Minister for Housing and Public Works, Abdur Rahman gets the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Narayan Chandra Chanda assumes charge of the Ministry of Land, Abdus Salam Minister for Planning, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel elevated to Education Minister, Farhad Hossain becomes Minister for Public Administration, Faridul Haque Khan stays in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Zillul Hakim gets the Ministry of Railways, Saber Hossain Chowdhury the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Jahangir Kabir Nanak allocated Ministry of Textiles and Jute, Nazmul Hasan Papon becomes Minister for Youth and Sports, Yeafesh Osman stays at the helm of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Dr Samanta Lal Sen gets the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Of the cabinet ministers, Yeafesh Osman and Dr Samanta Lal Sen are inducted as technocrat ministers.
Among the ministers of state, Mohammad A. Arafat took oath as State Minister for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Zunaid Ahmed Palak for Information and Communication Technology Division, Nasrul Hamid Power Division, Simeen Hossain (Rimi), Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Rumana Ali, Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, Ahsanul Islam (Titu) takes the Ministry of Commerce, Shafikur Rahman Chowdhury, Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, stays at the Ministry of Shipping, Zahid Farooq at the Ministry of Water Resources, Kujendra Lal Tripura for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, and Mohibbur Rahman gets the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reappointed her five advisers and employed a new one hours after the oath-taking ceremony of her new council of ministers, a Cabinet Division notification said later on Thursday.
It said Dr Mashiur Rahman, Dr Gauher Rizvi, Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Salman Fazlur Rahman and Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique were reappointed as the premier's advisers. The newly-appointed adviser is Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury.
According to the notification, ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin was also reappointed in his previous position.
They all will enjoy the status of a minister, salary and allowances and related facilities during their tenures in those positions.
Sheikh Hasina was sworn in Thursday as the prime minister of Bangladesh after her Awami League party bagged a massive victory in last Sunday's parliamentary election, boycotted by AL's archrival BNP and its political allies.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 76-year-old prime minister at a ceremony watched by foreign diplomats, high civil and military officials and Dhaka's elite.
The oath-taking ceremony took place a day after the Awami League Parliamentary Party (ALPP) unanimously elected Hasina as Leader of the House, thereby paving the way for her to become prime minister once more.
Hasina, elder daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won the election from the Gopalganj-3 parliamentary constituency with a huge margin in the January 7 polls. She never lost from this seat in her paternal home district since her first contest in 1986.
Agencies report that Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived the August 15, 1975 mayhem that saw the assassination of Bangabandhu along with most members of his family. They were then on vacation in Germany. From Germany the two sisters, who happen to be the only survivors of Mujib family, went to India for about six years in exile.
Still in exile, Hasina was elected president of Awami League at the age of 34. She returned home from India on May 17, 1981 and immediately launched a campaign against the then military rule for restoration of democracy.
Later, she led her party's pro-democracy movement against the autocratic rule of HM Ershad, leading to his downfall in 1990. However, in the general election held in 1991, the Awami League lost to its archrival Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Khaleda Zia.
The Awami League, led by Hasina, won the June 1996 parliamentary elections, returning to power for the first time since the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975.
In 2001, Hasina became first leader to step down peacefully after serving full five-year term in office and handed over power to a caretaker administration as per the constitution. Her party was defeated in the 2001 election conducted by a caretaker government.
She again led her party to an absolute win in the 2008 election overseen by a military-backed interim government. She took office for the second time in 2009. She also won the successive three elections in 2014, 2018, and the latest on January 7, 2024.
In 2014, Hasina's party won 153 of the 300 parliamentary seats without a contest thanks to a BNP-led opposition boycott. Though BNP joined the 2018 polls, it was tainted by allegations of massive irregularities, denied by the Awami League. The BNP also stayed away from the January 7 polls after the government rejected its demand for the vote to be held under a neutral caretaker administration.
In the January 7 election the Awami League secured 222 seats. The independent candidates, largely from AL, bagged 62 and the Jatiya Party, led by GM Quader, got only 11 seats.
(Inputs taken from agencies and live media reports)
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