Article 65 Parliament: the House of the Nation
Establishment of Parliament
Every law that governs daily life, tax and business must ultimately come from or be authorised by this Parliament. Knowing how its seats are filled explains who makes those laws and how representative the House is.
In force as printed on bdlaws. The July National Charter, put to a referendum on 12 February 2026, includes proposals affecting this article. As of 2026 reporting these remain proposals and no constitutional amendment had been enacted. The proposals include a 100-member upper house and greater representation of women.
At a general election, voters in each of the 300 single territorial constituencies choose one member by direct vote. The Election Commission conducts the poll and publishes the results. Each winner becomes a Member of Parliament for that constituency.
Once the House is formed, the 300 directly elected members choose the holders of the 50 reserved women's seats. The election uses proportional representation through the single transferable vote, so seats are shared broadly in line with party strength in the House.
Sitting in Dhaka, the full House debates and passes Bills. Article 65 vests the legislative powers of the Republic in Parliament, subject to the Constitution, so a law passed outside this process, other than a valid Ordinance, has no authority.
An Act often lets a ministry or regulator make rules, regulations or bye-laws to fill in the detail. The proviso to clause (1) permits this delegation, but the authority must come from an Act of Parliament and stay within it.
In plain English
How Article 65 works
Article 65 creates Parliament, called the House of the Nation (Jatiya Sangsad), and gives it the law-making power of the country. Parliament may pass an Act letting a ministry or other authority make rules and regulations, but the main power stays with Parliament. There are 300 members, each directly elected from a single territorial constituency. On top of these, 50 seats are reserved for women. Women for those seats are chosen by the 300 elected members through proportional representation, and the Seventeenth Amendment of 2018 extended the reservation for 25 years. Women can also stand for and win any of the 300 general seats. Parliament sits in the capital, Dhaka.
In practice
Parliament has had 300 directly elected seats since independence, with the number and method of reserved women's seats changed several times by amendment. The current 50 seats, elected by the general members, run under the 2018 extension. After the 12th Parliament was dissolved on 6 August 2024, the country had no sitting legislature until the 13th Parliament first met on 12 March 2026. Reform proposals discussed by the National Consensus Commission in 2025 included a 100-member upper house and 100 reserved seats for women, and the July National Charter was put to a referendum in February 2026. As reported, none of these had become law by 2026, so Article 65 still describes a single-chamber House.
The text
What Article 65 says
65. (1) There shall be a Parliament for Bangladesh (to be known as the House of the Nation) in which, subject to the provisions of this Constitution, shall be vested the legislative powers of the Republic:
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(2) Parliament shall consist of three hundred members to be elected in accordance with law from single territorial constituencies by direct election and, for so long as clause (3) is effective, the members provided for in that clause; the members shall be designated as Members of Parliament.
[(3) Until the dissolution of Parliament occurring next after the expiration of the period of twenty five years beginning from the date of the first meeting of the Parliament next after the Parliament in existence at the time of the commencement of the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2018, there shall be reserved fifty seats exclusively for women members and they will be elected by the aforesaid members in accordance with law on the basis of procedure of proportional representation in the Parliament through single transferable vote : Provided that nothing in this clause shall be deemed to prevent a woman from being elected to any of the seats provided for in clause (2) of this article.]
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(4) The seat of Parliament shall be in the capital.
Key clauses shown. Omitted text is marked with an ellipsis; read the full text on the official site.
English text as published on the official Laws of Bangladesh website. Where a court has changed the position, the status note above explains it.
Landmark cases
How the courts have read it
Appellate Division · 1992
Dr Ahmed Hussein v Bangladesh
44 DLR (AD) 109
Upheld reserved seats for women in Parliament, reasoning that reserved seats were part of the original Constitution from the outset.
Case summaries are short descriptions for orientation, not a substitute for the judgment.
History
Amendments
- Fifteenth Amendment 2011Inserted clause (3A) on the composition of the Parliament then in existence (300 directly elected members plus 50 women members).
- Seventeenth Amendment 2018Substituted clause (3), extending the 50 reserved seats for women for 25 years from the first meeting of the next Parliament.
Connected provisions
Related articles
Questions
Article 65: frequently asked questions
What is Article 65 of the Constitution of Bangladesh?
Article 65 establishes Parliament, known as the House of the Nation or Jatiya Sangsad, and vests the legislative powers of the Republic in it. It fixes 300 directly elected seats, provides 50 reserved seats for women while clause (3) is effective, allows delegated rule-making by Act, and places Parliament in the capital.
How many seats are there in the Bangladesh Parliament?
There are 300 general seats elected directly from single territorial constituencies, plus 50 seats reserved for women, making 350 in total. The women members are elected by the 300 general members through proportional representation using the single transferable vote.
Does Bangladesh have an upper house?
No. Article 65 provides for a single-chamber Parliament. A 100-member upper house was proposed during the 2025 reform talks and in the July National Charter, but as of 2026 reporting it remained a proposal and no constitutional amendment creating it had been enacted.
Sources
- Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Article 65 (Laws of Bangladesh)
- The Daily Star Law and Our Rights: reserved seats for women and the courts (February 2009)
- Prothom Alo English: MPs may enjoy freedom in parliament except on no confidence motions, finance bills (June 2025)
- ConstitutionNet: Bangladesh's Referendum and Reforms: The Need to Return to a Constitutional Process (March 2026)
- Bernama: Bangladesh President dissolves parliament (6 August 2024)
- Prothom Alo English: 13th parliament's first session begins (12 March 2026)
This guide explains the Constitution for general understanding. It is not legal advice. Constitutional reform proposals under discussion in 2026 are described as proposals until enacted.
Constitutional and writ practice
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