Desk Report,
Consensus Commission’s proposal on upper house of parliament is unusual: Salahuddin Ahmed
BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has called the National Consensus Commission’s latest proposal on the formation of an upper house of a bicameral parliament “unusual.” He said the commission’s proposal is unrealistic and contradicts Bangladesh’s unitary structure. He made these remarks after the 13th day of discussions at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Monday during the second phase of the dialogue between political parties with the National Consensus Commission.
Consensus Commission’s proposal on upper house of parliament is unusual: Salahuddin Ahmed
Salahuddin Ahmed said the commission’s new proposal states that a total of 76 members will be formed by directly electing 64 members from the country’s 64 districts and 12 from 12 city corporations. Calling the matter a proposal made on the lines of ‘district council or provincial structure’, he said, ‘This has not been discussed before and it is not at all reasonable or necessary.’
Raising questions about the new proposal, Salahuddin Ahmed said, ‘We are not going into the concept of provincialism. We are a unitary type of government. So what will be the power or scope of these 76 members? Again, there is already an elected representative in the city corporation – why should we bring a new representative along with him?’
During the discussion on the bicameral parliament, the BNP leader said, ‘We have already proposed the formation of an upper house in our 31-point reform proposal. Our main goal was to incorporate the talent, wisdom and experience of eminent people who have contributed to different sectors of society in the governance of the state. For that purpose, I proposed the formation of a representative upper house.’
Salauddin Ahmed said that there is a general consensus among the political parties on the need for an upper house, but there has been no agreement on the election process. He said, ‘Some say that representatives will come in proportion to the seats in the lower house, some say that there should be proportional representation. The commission will now review these proposals.’

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Consensus Commission’s proposal on the upper house of parliament is unusual: Salahuddin Ahmed
Own Correspondent
Dhaka
Published: 15 July 2025, 02:48
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BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed briefed journalists after the 13th day of discussions of the second phase of the dialogue between political parties with the National Consensus Commission. At the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Monday. Photo: Prothom Alo
BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has called the latest proposal of the National Consensus Commission on the formation of an upper house of a bicameral parliament ‘unusual’. He said that the commission’s proposal is unrealistic and contradicts the unitary structure of Bangladesh. He made these remarks after the 13th day of discussions of the second phase of the dialogue between political parties with the National Consensus Commission at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Monday.
Salahuddin Ahmed said that the commission’s new proposal states that a total of 76 members will be formed by directly electing 64 members from the country’s 64 districts and 12 from 12 city corporations. Calling the matter a proposal made on the lines of ‘district council or provincial structure’, he said, ‘This has not been discussed before and it is not at all reasonable or necessary.’
Raising questions about the new proposal, Salahuddin Ahmed said, ‘We are not going into the concept of provincialism. We are a unitary type of government. So what will be the power or scope of these 76 members? Again, there is already an elected representative in the city corporation – why should we bring a new representative along with him?’
During the discussion on the bicameral parliament, the BNP leader said, ‘We have already proposed the formation of an upper house in our 31-point reform proposal. Our main goal was to incorporate the talent, wisdom and experience of eminent people who have contributed to different sectors of society in the governance of the state. For that purpose, I proposed the formation of a representative upper house.’
Salahuddin Ahmed said that there is a general consensus among political parties on the need for an upper house, but there was no agreement on the election process. He said, ‘Some say that representatives will come in proportion to the seats of the lower house, some say that there should be proportional representation. The commission will now review these proposals.’
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Regarding women’s representation in the National Parliament, the BNP leader said, ‘We are in favor of women’s empowerment and increasing representation. In line with this, the BNP has proposed to increase the number of 50 women’s seats currently reserved to 100. However, we think that these seats should be elected according to the existing system according to the current constitution.’ He said that it is not realistic to determine 100 new parliamentary seats for women’s seats directly.
Regarding the commission’s proposal to require political parties to nominate women candidates for 33 percent of seats, Salahuddin Ahmed said, “We have not yet been able to have 33 percent women members in various party committees as per the RPO. The reality is that most women in our society feel hesitant to enter politics directly due to religious and social reasons. Therefore, we want to increase women’s participation step by step, it is not an overnight revolutionary change.”
