13th Parliament opens today

Bangladesh’s 13th National Parliament, the first since the 2024 mass uprising, begins its first session today, with opposition MPs expected to stage a walkout in protest against the President’s address, even as the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has yet to finalise its nominations for speaker and deputy speaker.
The session is scheduled to commence at 11am.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin will deliver the formal opening address, a constitutional requirement at the start of every new parliament and the first session of each year. 
Opposition MPs from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP) are expected to absent themselves from the chamber during the speech before returning afterwards.
Jamaat senior leader Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher said President Shahabuddin had no right to address the parliament.
In an unusual procedural arrangement, the session will begin with an empty presiding chair.
Prime Minister and Leader of the House Tarique Rahman will then announce which senior MP will chair the first sitting.
Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni said a recitation from the Holy Quran would open proceedings, after which a senior lawmaker would be nominated and seconded to preside.
Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a senior BNP lawmaker elected from Cumilla-1, is expected to take the chair. If he is unable to do so, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir may preside instead.
The speaker of the outgoing 12th Parliament, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, resigned following the fall of the Awami League government and remains at large; her deputy, Shamsul Haque Tuku, is in custody. 
The speaker and deputy speaker will be elected and sworn in by the President immediately after the house convenes. With a clear parliamentary majority, the BNP nominee is certain to become the next speaker.
Tarique chaired a meeting of the BNP parliamentary party at the Parliament Complex on Wednesday to discuss the nominations, after which the party entrusted him with the final decision.
Tarique has offered the deputy speaker post to Jamaat-e-Islami, but the party has yet to respond. Dr Taher said the opposition would announce its position once a formal proposal was placed.
A meeting of opposition MPs was also held at the Parliament complex, chaired by Leader of the Opposition and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman, at which lawmakers discussed parliamentary strategy including adjournment motions and topics for general discussion.
The Business Advisory Committee will be formed at the first sitting under the new speaker, and will determine the session’s agenda and duration. The first session is expected to be brief. 

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the Business Advisory Committee would meet the following day and the session may be dissolved on 15 March.
One of the primary tasks of the treasury bench will be to place before the house the 133 ordinances promulgated or amended by the interim government during its 18 months in office.
Salahuddin Ahmed confirmed all 133 would be tabled.
Chief Whip Moni then said that the government would also seek to form the Business Advisory Committee, Special Committee, Privilege Committee and parliamentary standing committees during the opening days of the session.
Meanwhile, rickshaw puller Nur Mohammad, who rushed toward the hospital with the bullet-wounded martyr Golam Nafiz during the July uprising, received an invitation to attend the first session of the 13th National Parliament. On Wednesday, he told the media that this was a significant achievement in his life. He had been invited to join the session.
The 13th Parliament convenes nearly a month after the 12 February general election, in which the BNP-led alliance won 212 seats and the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance secured 77.
Voting took place in 299 of 300 constituencies, with results declared in 297. One candidate from the Islami Andolan Bangladesh and seven independents were elected.