Senate of Bangladesh

Senate of Bangladesh

বাংলাদেশ অধিষদ
Type
Type
Established17 February 2026 to within 180 working days.
Leadership
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Structure
Seats105
Political groups
Government (56)

Opposition (44)

  •   11 Parties (41)
  •   IAB (3)

Others (5)

  •   Nominated (5)
Length of term
Up to five years
Elections
First election
12 February 2026
Last election
12 February 2026
Next election
TBA
Meeting place
Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban,
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Constitution
Constitution of Bangladesh

The Senate of Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ অধিষদ) is the proposed upper house of the Jatiya Sangsad, the bicameral legislature of Bangladesh. It is going through transition phase following the success of the 2026 Bangladeshi constitutional referendum on February 12, 2026, [1]

Background

Since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has had a unicameral legislature, the Jatiya Sangsad. After the political reforms following the July Revolution, the National Consensus Commission developed the July Charter, which proposes changes to the constitution, governance, and election framework and creating a bicameral parliament with a Senate as the upper house.

Under the "July Charter implementation order" which has approved and gazetted in November 2025, the Senate proposal is formally included as part of the constitutional referendum question to be held alongside the 2026 general election.[2]

Structure

Main article: July Charter

The Parliament of Bangladesh would be restructured into a bicameral legislature consisting of two chambers:

Parliament of Bangladesh
House of the Nation Senate
Lower House Upper House
  • Acts as the principal legislative chamber.
  • Members are elected from constituencies through a mixed system consisting primarily of first-past-the-post seats along with reserved seats.
  • Proposed as a 100-member chamber elected through proportional representation based on national vote shares in the general election.
  • An additional 5 eminent citizens would be appointed by the President as independent members.
  • Members would serve terms similar in length to those of the lower house.
  • The Senate’s primary role would be to review, amend, and delay legislation passed by the National Assembly.

Proposed composition according to July Charter

Proposed composition according to the proportional representation, and election result.[3]

Functions and powers

Main article: July Charter

Under the charter’s framework:

  • Legislative review: The Senate would debate and suggest changes to bills passed by the lower house.
  • Constitutional amendments: Any constitutional change would require approval by a majority of the Senate, adding a check to constitutional revisions.
  • The Senate is not intended to duplicate the lower house’s functions but to act as a deliberative and revisory chamber.[4]

References

  1. ^ "July Charter and Constitutional Reforms in Bangladesh". ConstitutionNet. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  2. ^ "July Charter referendum: What it is and why it's confusing". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  3. ^ "BNP got 49.97% votes, while Jamaat 31.76%: EC | The Daily Star". www.thedailystar.net. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  4. ^ Ahmed, Rajib (2025-11-14). "July Charter implementation order: How much of each party's demands accommodated". Prothomalo. Retrieved 2026-01-06.

23°45′44″N 90°22′43″E / 23.76222°N 90.37861°E / 23.76222; 90.37861

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.