Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has clarified that the constituency for Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to reserved seats for women is the entirety of Bangladesh, dismissing claims of specific territorial jurisdictions or “additional responsibilities.”
Salahuddin provided this constitutional explanation during the second session of the Jatiya Sangsad on Monday. His remarks came in response to a point of order raised by opposition MP Akhtar Hossain regarding the work scope and territorial limits of reserved seat parliamentarians.
Opposition raises ‘one-party system’ concerns
Standing on a point of order presided over by the Deputy Speaker, MP Akhtar Hossain alleged that a ruling party MP from a reserved seat had claimed two specific parliamentary constituencies as her “additional responsibility.”
Hossain noted that local political propaganda in those areas suggested the reserved seat MP, rather than the directly elected representative, would oversee all local development.
He questioned the constitutional basis for such “additional responsibility” and pointed out contradictions in previous government statements.
The opposition member further expressed concern that assigning such roles specifically in constituencies won by the opposition might be an attempt to establish a one-party system.
The constitutional distinction
Responding to these concerns, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed cited Article 65 of the Constitution to explain the distinction between parliamentary seats.
He stated that while the 300 members of the Jatiya Sangsad are elected from specific territorial areas defined by the Delimitation Act, the same does not apply to the 50 reserved seats for women. For these members, their electoral area is the whole of Bangladesh.
Mandate and fund allocation
Salahuddin emphasised that it is incorrect for any reserved seat MP to limit themselves to a specific area in their rhetoric. He asserted that they should maintain they are elected for the entire country.
Under current laws and regulations, reserved seat MPs are authorised to sub-allocate government funds received from various ministries to any location within Bangladesh.
They possess full independence to distribute these allocations and perform their parliamentary duties across all jurisdictions.
The Home Minister concluded that the concept of a “specific area or responsibility” is not applicable to reserved seat MPs under the Constitution or the law.
