48 MPs from reserved seats take oath

Forty-eight women Members of Parliament (MPs), elected from the reserved seats unopposed, were sworn in on Sunday. Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered the oath to the new 48 MPs at the Oath Chamber of the Jatiya Sangsad. Of the 48 MPs, 38 were elected to the 10th parliament from Awami League, while 5 from Jatiya Party, three independent ones, and one each from Bangladesh Workers’ Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasad. Earlier on Wednesday, the Election Commission declared the 48 women MPs elected unopposed from reserved seats as they had no rival. The commission will have to hold election to two more reserved seats out 50 as it cancelled candidature of an AL aspirant Sabiha Nahar and Jatiya Party aspirant Khorshed Ara Haque on the grounds that the two MP aspirants did not pay their telephone bills before the submission of nomination papers, according to a news agency.