Direct election for 100 women's seat not realistic: Salahuddin

The BNP supports the existing mechanism for electing reserved women's seats due to the impracticality of creating and implementing 100 separate constituencies, the party's National Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said today (14 July). 

"Given the current political and social realities, no political party has yet been able to ensure 33% female representation within their own structures. Therefore, expecting one-third female candidates in general elections is not yet a realistic scenario," he told reporters following the 13th day of National Consensus Commission's second-phase dialogue held today at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka. 

"A time will come when women will be able to directly contest in reserved seats. Until then, we need to wait patiently and work towards that."

Speaking on the issue of the proposed upper house (bicameral legislature), Salahuddin said discussions were held on its powers, functions, and the electoral process. 

BNP had suggested forming the upper house based on the proportion of seats in the lower house, but there was no consensus on the matter, he said.

Asked whether a proportional system would weaken the upper house, he said, "BNP was the first to propose the formation of an upper house. Debating whether it will be strong or weak is irrelevant since it hasn't even been formed yet."

Criticising one of the proposals from the National Consensus Commission, he said, "I find the suggestion to form the upper house with representatives from 64 districts and 12 city corporations to be quite unusual and impractical."