With around six weeks remaining in the 90-day legal timeframe to hold the election for the women’s reserved seats in parliament, the Election Commission has yet to fix a polling schedule.

The commission has also yet to finalise the party- or alliance-wise list of members, though it said the voter list for the election has been prepared, and work on the party-wise distribution is underway.

According to the constitution, the election for reserved seats for women has to be held within 90 days of a parliamentary election.

The 13th national election, along with the referendum, was held on February 12, with results published the next day.

Fifty parties, including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Jatiya Party, contested the polls. Of them, only nine parties won seats. The remaining 41, including the Jatiya Party, failed to secure any.

Contacted by The Daily Star on Wednesday about a tentative timeline for the women’s reserved seats election, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said the commission will hold a meeting on April 6 to set the date for the election to the reserved women’s seats in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad. “The schedule and polling date may be announced that day.”

Speaking to The Daily Star on February 24, he had said the schedule for the reserved women’s seats election would be announced during Ramadan.

He added that of the 50 seats, a party must have won at least six parliamentary seats in the general election to qualify for one reserved seat.

Fifty-four years ago, a provision was included in the constitution to reserve seats for women in parliament for greater representation of women in the legislative body. It began with 15 seats in Bangladesh’s first parliament in 1972. Since then, the number has increased several times and now stands at 50.

According to the Jatiya Sangsad (Reserved Seats for Women) Election Act, 2004, the Election Commission must complete the election within 90 days of publishing the final results in the government gazette. The law also requires the EC to issue a notification setting dates for nomination, scrutiny, withdrawal, and voting. In addition, within 30 working days of gazette publication, the commission must prepare separate lists of elected members by party or alliance.

Contacted, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said, “The voter list is ready and we’ve asked for the calculations to be completed so the file can be prepared.”

On seat distribution, he said the percentages depend on political party alliances. “Right now, our top priorities are the reserved women’s seats election, the Bogura-6 by-polls, and the postponed Sherpur-3 election.”

He confirmed that all political parties have already submitted letters regarding their desired alliances, which are being processed for distribution.

Akhtar also noted that independent candidate Rumeen Farhana has stated she will not join any alliance, while parliament election results in Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4 remain pending -- which may affect the calculations.

Under the relevant act, the 50 reserved seats for women are divided by the 300 general seats. The resulting ratio is multiplied by the number of seats a party or alliance wins, determining its share of reserved women’s seats.

As per this law, BNP will get 35.16 seats, rounded to 36; Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami will get 11.33 seats, or 12 in total; and independent candidates will receive 1.16 percent, equivalent to two seats (if they ally). The National Citizen Party will get one seat. Other smaller parties will not get any unless they form alliances.

POSSIBLE ALLIANCES

EC Secretary Akhtar said that in the distribution of reserved women’s seats, Bangladesh Jatiya Party’s Andaleeve Rahman Partho, Ganosamhati Andolon’s Md Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki, and Gono Odhikar Parishad’s Md Nurul Haque Nur are joining hands with the BNP in this regard.

Meanwhile, the National Citizen Party (NCP) and Jamaat-e-Islami are forming an alliance. “In addition, there is a separate front of independent candidates,” he added.

Independent winners in the national election are -- AZM Rezwanul Haque in Dinajpur-5; Md Abdul Hannan in Chandpur-4; Atikul Alam in Cumilla-7; Md Lutfur Rahman Khan Azad in Tangail-3; Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Iqbal in Kishoreganj-5; Mohammad Salman Omar in Mymensingh-1; and Rumeen Farhana in Brahmanbaria-2.

However, Rumeen informed the EC that she would not join any alliances.

RESERVED SEATS: A HISTORY

In the 12th Jatiya Sangsad, formed through the January 7, 2024 national election, the EC published the list of reserved seat members on February 27.

For the 11th parliament, elected on December 30, 2018, members for the reserved seats were sworn in on February 20, 2019.

In the 10th parliament, elected on January 5, 2014, voting for reserved seats had been scheduled for April 3. However, with no rival contesting candidates, the Election Commission on March 19 declared all candidates elected unopposed.

The 2014 and 2024 national elections were widely criticised as one-sided, with most opposition parties boycotting the polls amid allegations of dummy candidates. The 2018 election, though contested, was overshadowed by claims of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and institutional failures.

Historically, elections to women’s reserved seats in Bangladesh have seen the ruling party secure the majority, with members often criticised as offering unconditional support in parliament.

Critics have at times dubbed them “doll MPs”, as nominations often hinge on whether they are wives, daughters, or relatives of ruling party parliament members.

Contacted by The Daily Star on Thursday, former EC additional secretary Jasmine Tuli said the party that wins the most seats in parliament also secures the majority of reserved women’s seats. “This was why the Electoral Reform Commission had recommended allocating reserved seats proportionately, based on the percentage of votes each party received.”

The proposal, however, was never implemented.

Asked whether ruling party relatives dominate nominations for reserved seats, Tuli, a former member of the Electoral Reform Commission, said, “History says so. Experience shows that most nominations go to family members of party leaders. A few grassroots leaders have made it to reserved seats, but the percentage is very low.”