Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin administers oath to Tarique Rahman.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Five days after the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, Tarique Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Bangladesh on Tuesday (February 17, 2026).
Bangladesh swearing-in: Follow LIVE updates from BNP chief Tarique Rahman’s oath-taking ceremony on February 17, 2026
The swearing-in of the new Prime Minister and his ministerial colleagues came hours after Chief Election Commissioner A.M.M Nasir Uddin administered the oath of parliament to the newly elected members of BNP in the parliament of Bangladesh – Jatiyo Sansad.
As the new Prime Minister Mr. Rahman will lead a team of twenty-five cabinet ministers and twenty-four ministers of state, who were all administered oath by President of Bangladesh Mohammed Shahabuddin.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chaudhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku – prominent members of the National Standing Committee of the BNP, and Nitai Roy Choudhury, Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossein, Abdul Awal Mintu, Rashiduzzaman Millat, Shama Obaid from the BNP executive committee were sworn in as cabinet ministers.
While most of the ministers sworn in were elected MPs in the February 12 election, the ministry will also include Mohammed Amir Ur Rashid under the ‘technocrats’ category.
BNP’s ally Gonosanghati Andolan’s Jonaid Saki, a popular face among the gen-z protesters for his radical comments, will be a state minister as well.
In a continuity from the Interim Government the current National Security Adviser Dr. Khalilur Rahman has been included among the cabinet ministers as a ‘technocrat’ as well. BNP sources have confirmed that Dr. Rahman who’s been the face of Bangladesh’s diplomacy regarding the Rohingya issue will be the next foreign minister of Bangladesh.
Also Read | BNP members sworn in as MPs; party says they will not take oath for changing existing constitution
Around 1,200 foreign and domestic guests attended the swearing-in ceremony that took place in the South Plaza of the parliament. President of the Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, Pakistan’s Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri were among the foreign dignitaries who attended the swearing-in ceremony.
The process of transfer of power from the interim government led by Chief Adviser Prof. Mohammed Yunus started earlier this morning with when Chairman of BNP Tarique Rahman led the BNP-alliance members to the parliament, where they were administered the oath of membership of the parliament by Chief Election Commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin in the Oath Taking Hall of the parliament.
Before the procedure, standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed took the microphone and said that the BNP members who were present on the occasion in the parliament will not take oath for being part of the “Constitution Reform Commission”.
“None of us were elected as members of the Constitution Reform Commission and the oath for this commission has not yet become part of the constitutional process,” said Mr. Ahmed asserting that he is conveying the decision of the party regarding the Constitution Reform Commission in the presence of Chairman Tarique Rahman.
The oath taking ceremony was paused after the BNP members were sworn in with the members of the opposition bloc not showing up with reports that the elected members of the Jamaat-e-Islami –led 11-party alliance were thinking of boycotting the swearing-in ceremony. They, however, arrived in the parliament accompanied by the newly elected independent MPs where they were administered two separate oaths for the parliament as well as the Constitution Reform Commission.
The twin-oath procedure was conceived to integrate the results of the parliamentary election as well as referendum for extensive constitutional amendment by including the July Charter into the constitution.
Also Read | Hindus among four from minority communities elected to Bangladesh parliament
The July Charter, a document that was adopted by the interim government in consultation with political parties on October 17, 2025, is based on recommendations that were received to change governance in Bangladesh after the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, 2024.
The BNP has said that though they had signed the July Charter on October 17, 2025, the final text of the July Charter has gone far beyond what they had agreed to.
Published – February 17, 2026 04:57 pm IST
