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Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban
The Parliamentary Special Committee on Constitutional Amendment is scheduled to hold a consultation on Sunday afternoon with political parties and alliances that endorsed the July National Charter. However, key opposition groups—including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the National Citizen Party (NCP), and their 11-party alliance partners—have confirmed they will boycott the session.
The consultation forms a key agenda item of the committee’s second formal meeting, scheduled for 2:30 PM at the Cabinet Room of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Formal invitations were dispatched to the presidents and general secretaries of 26 signatory parties and alliances, requesting their input on proposed constitutional revisions.
During the interim administration, the July National Charter was drafted following negotiations with 30 political entities and constitutional experts, with 26 parties ultimately signing the accord while four left-leaning parties opted out. Of those 26 signatories, eight are now aligned with the opposition 11-party bloc.
The opposition's boycott stems from the government's refusal to establish a "Constitutional Reform Council" in accordance with the national referendum mandate. Under the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order issued by the interim government, 48 of the charter's 84 reform proposals pertained directly to the constitution. Following the "Yes" vote in the concurrent referendum, the order mandated forming a Reform Council comprising 13th Parliament lawmakers tasked with concluding structural revisions within 180 working days.
Upon forming the government, the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) bypassed the formation of the Reform Council. Instead, on July 13, Parliament established a 12-member Special Committee on Constitutional Amendment chaired by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed. Although five committee seats were allocated to the opposition, they rejected the initiative and refused to nominate members.
AB Party Chairman Mojibur Rahman Manju confirmed his party received an invitation but resolved not to attend, reiterating that a Constitutional Reform Council was legally and democratically required under the referendum mandate. NCP Member Secretary Akhter Hossain emphasized that the modality of reform was settled by popular vote, asserting that traditional, ad-hoc committee maneuvers will fail to resolve the constitutional impasse.
