Membership
Article 66 of the Constitution makes membership open to any citizen of Bangladesh and only Bangladesh (dual citizenship is open for civilians, but not MPs) above the age of 25. Members are elected by direct polls in their respective constituencies, and whoever wins the most vote, regardless of turnout or proportion, wins the election. Members are elected for a term of 5 years; the entire Parliament dissolves 5 years after the swear-in. Members can be re-elected indefinitely, and can be independent or contest through a political party.
Members must not have served time in prison for more than two years to be eligible, unless they served this period five years prior to the elections.
Article 67 states that members absent without leave for 90 consecutive sitting days will lose their membership. Any ambiguity regarding membership will be resolved by the Bangladesh Election Commission, and attending sessions without membership (even if memberships are cancelled in retrospect) amounts to a BDT1,000 ($14) fine per day, per Article 69.
Read more about this topic: Jatiyo Sangshad
Famous quotes containing the word membership:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)