Constitution & political system

The Adoption of the Constitution

The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 4 November 1972 and came into effect on 16 December 1972, the first anniversary of Victory Day. It is the supreme law of the land; Article 7 declares that all powers of the Republic belong to the people and that any law inconsistent with the Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. Dr. Kamal Hossain chaired the 34-member drafting committee. The original document was a unitary, parliamentary, secular and democratic charter written in Bengali, with an authentic English text.

The Four State Principles

The Preamble and Part II enshrine the four fundamental principles of state policy, popularly the Mujibbad pillars: nationalism, socialism (meaning economic and social justice), democracy, and secularism. Article 8 elevates these to fundamental principles guiding governance, though Article 8(2) makes them judicially non-enforceable directives. The principles were dramatically altered after 1975: the Fifth Amendment (1979) and the Eighth Amendment (1988) reshaped the secular character, the Eighth Amendment (Article 2A) declaring Islam the state religion. The Fifteenth Amendment (2011) restored secularism and the original four principles while retaining Islam as the state religion — a deliberate constitutional balancing act candidates must be able to explain.

Fundamental Rights and Their Enforcement

Part III (Articles 26-47A) guarantees fundamental rights: equality before law (Article 27), non-discrimination (Article 28), freedom of movement, assembly, association, thought, conscience and speech (Articles 36-39), and protection in respect of trial and punishment (Article 35). Article 26 voids any law inconsistent with fundamental rights. Crucially, Article 44 makes the right to enforce fundamental rights itself a guaranteed right, exercised through the High Court Division's writ jurisdiction under Article 102 — Bangladesh's equivalent of judicial review. The landmark Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v. Bangladesh (1989, the Eighth Amendment Case) established the basic structure doctrine in Bangladesh, holding that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution so as to destroy its fundamental framework.

The Architecture of Government

Bangladesh operates a Westminster-style parliamentary system. The Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) is a unicameral legislature of 350 members — 300 directly elected from single-member territorial constituencies and 50 women's seats reserved and allocated proportionally to party strength. The President (Articles 48-54) is the ceremonial head of state, elected by Parliament for a five-year term, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister except for appointing the PM and the Chief Justice. The Prime Minister and Cabinet, collectively responsible to Parliament under Article 55, wield real executive authority. Article 70 — the anti-defection provision — bars an MP from voting against their party on pain of losing the seat, a clause that concentrates power in party leadership and is a perennial PYQ topic.

Why This Matters for the Exam

In the BCS Preliminary MCQ paper, Bangladesh Affairs carries 30 marks, and constitutional questions are among the most reliably recurring items — examiners favour them because answers are unambiguous and verifiable. In the Written examination, Bangladesh Affairs is a full 200-mark paper where constitutional questions appear as both short notes and analytical essays. Mastery of dated facts and article numbers is the difference between a safe score and a guess.

The High-Yield Facts to Retain

Memorise the spine of the document: adopted 4 November 1972 (celebrated as Constitution Day / Sangbidhan Dibosh), effective 16 December 1972; 153 articles, 7 schedules, 11 parts in the consolidated text; drafting committee chaired by Dr. Kamal Hossain. Know the four state principles and which amendments altered them. Lock down the amendment chronology that examiners love:

• First Amendment (1973) — enabled prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• Fourth Amendment (1975) — introduced the one-party BAKSAL presidential system, abolishing the parliamentary form.
• Fifth Amendment (1979) — validated martial-law-era acts; later struck down.
• Eighth Amendment (1988) — made Islam the state religion (Article 2A) and decentralised the High Court; the latter part was voided in Anwar Hossain Chowdhury (1989).
• Twelfth Amendment (1991) — restored the parliamentary system after the fall of Ershad.
• Thirteenth Amendment (1996) — created the Non-Party Caretaker Government for elections; declared void by the Supreme Court in 2011.
• Fifteenth Amendment (2011) — abolished the caretaker system, restored the four founding principles and secularism, inserted Articles 7A and 7B (entrenching basic provisions against abrogation).
• Sixteenth Amendment (2014) — restored Parliament's power to remove judges; struck down by the Appellate Division in 2017.

How Questions Are Framed

Expect MCQs of the form 'Which amendment introduced the caretaker government?' or 'Article 70 deals with?'. In the Written paper, expect analytical prompts contrasting the original 1972 secular charter with the post-1975 and post-2011 positions, or asking you to assess the basic structure doctrine. Always anchor your answer in the exact article number and a date — that is what distinguishes a top script.