Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairman Tarique Rahman has been elected leader of the house by the BNP Parliamentary Party in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad.

The decision was taken at a meeting of BNP lawmakers held at the National Parliament following their swearing-in ceremony.

Earlier on the day, the party’s newly elected members of parliament took oath at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

The oath was administered by chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin.

Later in the afternoon, at 4:00pm, Tarique Rahman and members of the new cabinet are scheduled to take oath as prime minister and ministers at a special ceremony at the South Plaza of parliament.

The oath will be administered by president Mohammad Shahabuddin.

At its first meeting, the BNP parliamentary party also adopted two decisions.

It resolved that none of its MPs would avail themselves of duty-free vehicles and they would not accept government-allocated residential plots, BNP media cell confirmed.

The 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections, held on February 12 alongside a national referendum, saw the BNP secure an absolute majority, winning 209 of the 297 seats for which results were declared out of the 299 constituencies that went to the polls.

Former BNP ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami won 68 seats and is expected to serve as the main opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad.