A Member of Parliament (MP) in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

is a member of the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

Jatiya Sangsad The Jatiya Sangsad ( bn, জাতীয় সংসদ, lit=National Parliament, translit=Jatiyô Sôngsôd), often referred to simply as the ''Sangsad'' or JS and also known as the House of the Nation, is the supreme legislative body of ...

or House of the Nation. A majority of members are elected directly in

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, while a minority of seats are reserved exclusively for women and allocated on a proportional basis. The

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

specifies that Parliament consists of 300 directly-elected members, while 50 seats are reserved for women. The individual who leads the largest party or alliance in parliament usually becomes Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Eligibility criteria

In order to qualify to stand for election to Parliament, an individual is required to be – * A citizen of Bangladesh. * A minimum of twenty-five years of age.

Disqualification grounds

An individual is disqualified from standing for parliament in the event they – * Are declared by a competent court to be of unsound mind. * Are an undischarged insolvent. * Acquire the citizenship of a foreign state. * Have been convicted of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude and have been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of more than two-years. * Have been convicted of an offence under the Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunals) Order, 1972. * Hold an office of profit in service of the Republic that disqualifies them from election. * Are disqualified from election under any law.

Term

A Member of Parliament serves until the dissolution of parliament, which can be no more than five-years after its first sitting. But in the event of a

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, parliament can pass an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

extending the parliamentary term by no more than a year at a time. Parliament must be in session within six months of the conclusion of a war.

Duties of members of parliament

The broad responsibilities of members of parliament include – * Legislative responsibility, as MPs are required pass

laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

. * Oversight responsibility, as MPs are required to hold the executive government to account and ensure they discharge their duties satisfactorily. *

Power of the purse The power of the purse is the ability of one group to manipulate and control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds. The power of the purse can be used positively (e.g. awarding extra fun ...

, MPs are required to pass a Finance Act for each fiscal year that makes provision for the collection of revenue and expenditures of the government.

Remuneration, privileges and allowances

Members of parliament are entitled to an annual salary of as well as allowances. This is in accordance with Article 68 of the Constitution which makes provision for remuneration, allowances and privileges for members.

Size

The Constitution specifies that Parliament consists of 300 directly-elected members from general seats elected by use of

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

who represent single-constituencies, while 50 seats are reserved exclusively for women and are allocated on a proportional basis. After an election, the Election Commission allocates reserved seats to parties pursuant to the number of general seats they won. A party then presents a list of candidates, each requiring a presenter and a seconder. If the number of candidates presented and seats allocated is equal, then there is no election and the reserved seats are filled in accordance with the candidate lists prepared by parties. In the event there are more candidates than seat allocations, the 300 MPs elected from general seats vote through use of the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

system to determine the reserved seats. In reality, there has never been an election for reserved seats as parties have never nominated more candidates than they have been allocated.

Eligibility criteria

Disqualification grounds

Term

Duties of members of parliament

Remuneration, privileges and allowances

Size

Members

See also

Notes

References