Parliament's Fourth Session Begins Monday, Constitutional Reform Issue May Raise Heat

The fourth session of the 13th National Parliament begins tomorrow, Monday. The brief session may take up six bills for discussion, two or three of which could be passed. The session may also turn heated over the question of constitutional reform.

The fourth session of the 13th National Parliament will begin at 3:30 pm on Monday (November 9). President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir summoned the session on October 14 under the powers conferred by Article 72(1) of the Constitution.

Those concerned say this session is essentially being held to meet a constitutional obligation. Under the Constitution, the next session must be held within 60 days of the end of a session. The Parliament Secretariat has already completed all preparations for the session.

The session may run for a total of 10 working days, from November 9 to November 20. It is being kept short because a new session must be summoned in January. Under the normal rule, the first session of the year is held every January, and accordingly the next session of Parliament — the first session of 2027 — may be held in mid-January.

On the opening day of this fourth session, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the National Parliament will be held. The meeting will finalise the session's working days and programme.

Asked about the matter, Chief Whip of the National Parliament Nurul Islam Moni said the session is being held because of the constitutional obligation. There is an obligation to hold another session within 60 days of one session, he said. The session will be brief, one or two bills may be passed, and the usual programme, including question hour, will remain. How many working days it will run will be decided at the Business Advisory Committee meeting.

Sources in the Parliament Secretariat said six government bills may be introduced and discussed in this session, and two or three of them may also be passed. The bills may include three ordinances issued during the previous interim government, which must be turned into law by passing them as bills.

The session will also include question hour, notices on matters of public importance and general discussion. Those concerned said that if the opposition proposes a general discussion on any ongoing and important issue outside the scheduled programme, time may be allotted for that as well.

However, the much-discussed constitutional amendment proposal will not be placed in this session. A special committee on constitutional amendment is working on preparing the proposal. Committee sources said there is a plan to place it in the fifth session of Parliament in January.

Meanwhile, the session may become somewhat heated over the constitutional reform issue. The opposition may raise the question of constitutional reform in this session of the National Parliament, sources said. Although a special committee is working on constitutional amendment, the opposition has been demanding constitutional reform, and for that reason it did not join the special committee on constitutional amendment either.

Asked about the constitutional reform issue, Barrister Nazibur Rahman Momen, a member of parliament from the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami, said it is the government's responsibility to bring it as a bill or do something about it. But he said he sees no sign of that. They are demanding that the government give some update here, but it is not doing so, he said. If the government does nothing more, they will have no option but to announce programmes outside, he said.