The Tamesis
February 6, 2026
Dhaka – “As per the constitution, MPs must take oath under the authority of the Speaker. If the Speaker is unable to attend, the Deputy Speaker bears this responsibility. If both are unable to attend, there are provisions for that,” Asif Nazrul told reporters at the Secretariat.
The legal adviser pointed out that the current situation is unique, saying: “One of them is missing, the other is in jail, and both of them are facing serious cases. In this case, I don’t see any room for them to take an oath.”
According to the law, if the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are unable to administer the oath, it may be administered by a person nominated by the President on the advice of the Chief Adviser. For example, he could be our chief justice,” Asif Nazrul explained.
He added that the Chief Election Commissioner has the power to administer oath if the oath is not taken within three days of the election results.
“Now, this is a policy-level decision of the government. I cannot give any final decision. However, we have two options: a person nominated by the president, or if the three-day deadline has passed, by the Central Election Commission,” he said.
However, the adviser stressed that the government preferred a stopgap approach.
“The problem with waiting for the Chief Electoral Commissioner is that we have to wait for three days. We actually don’t want to wait. We want to schedule the oath-taking as soon as possible after the election,” he said.
Asif Nazrul added that he would review the law and convey his final opinion to Chief Counsel Dr Muhammad Yunus.
