Cabinet okays extension of JS reserved seat tenure by 25 yrs

The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the Constitution (17th Amendment) Bill, 2018 to keep the 50 parliamentary seats reserved exclusively for women for 25 more years, reports UNB.

The approval came from the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the Prime Minister's Office with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

As per the Constitution, Parliament shall consist of 300 members to be elected directly and 50 reserved seats for women to be allotted to parties based on their proportional representation in the House.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefed reporters at the Bangladesh Secretariat.

"There're 50 reserved seats in Parliament. But the existing 10-year tenure of the reserved seats is going to end. This is why the Cabinet approved the draft of the Constitution (17th Amendment) Bill, 2018 to extend the period by 25 more years," he said.

According to the draft bill, the 25-year period of the reserved seats would be counted from the first day of the 11th parliament, said Shafiul Alam.

In 2004, the 8th parliament extended the tenure of the reserved seats by another 10 years through a constitutional amendment and it became effective in the 9th parliament, which sat on January 25, 2009.

The 8th parliament increased the number of reserved seats from 30 to 45 while the 9th parliament enhanced it to 50.

The draft of the National Skill Development Authority Bill, 2018 was also approved in principle at the meeting.