Constitutional development & the political system

The framing of the 1972 Constitution

The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was framed by the Constituent Assembly formed from the elected members of the 1970 Pakistan National and Provincial Assembly elections. The Assembly's drafting committee, chaired by Dr. Kamal Hossain, produced a document adopted on 4 November 1972 that came into force on 16 December 1972 — Victory Day, the first anniversary of liberation. Bangladesh thereby gave itself a written constitution within a year of independence, a speed unmatched in the region.

The original Constitution rested on four fundamental state principles (Mool Niti) enshrined in the Preamble and Part II: nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism. These reflected the ideological commitments of the Awami League and the spirit of the Liberation War. The Constitution established a unitary, republican, parliamentary state. Sovereignty was vested in the people (Article 7), the Constitution declared the supreme law of the republic, and any law inconsistent with it was void.

Core architecture

The document originally comprised a Preamble, 153 articles arranged in eleven Parts, and four Schedules. Part III (Articles 26–47A) guarantees Fundamental Rights, enforceable through the High Court Division under Article 102 (writ jurisdiction). Part II sets out the Fundamental Principles of State Policy, which under Article 8 are judicially non-enforceable but fundamental to governance.

The original 1972 model concentrated power in the Prime Minister as head of government, with a largely ceremonial President as head of state, and a unicameral legislature, the Jatiya Sangsad (House of the Nation) of 300 directly elected members plus reserved seats for women. The judiciary was headed by the Supreme Court, comprising the Appellate Division and the High Court Division, with judicial independence guaranteed under Articles 94–116.

Why the original design mattered

The 1972 Constitution is the benchmark against which every later amendment is measured. Examiners expect candidates to know that the Awami League framers deliberately chose the Westminster parliamentary model over the presidential system of Pakistan, that secularism barred the misuse of religion for political ends (Article 12), and that the document banned communal political parties. The original text guaranteed an independent Election Commission (Article 118) and an autonomous office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (Articles 127–132), institutions central to accountable governance. Knowing the founding text in its 1972 form — before martial-law-era distortions — lets a candidate trace exactly what was added, removed, or restored across five decades of constitutional politics.

The amendment journey

The Constitution has been amended seventeen times. A handful are decisive for the BCS:

• The Fourth Amendment (25 January 1975) replaced the parliamentary system with a presidential one-party system, creating BAKSAL (Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League), curtailing judicial independence and press freedom. It marks the gravest departure from the founding design.
• The Fifth Amendment (1979) ratified the martial-law regime of Ziaur Rahman, inserted 'Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim' above the Preamble, and replaced secularism with 'absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah.' It was declared illegal by the Appellate Division in 2010.
• The Eighth Amendment (1988) under H.M. Ershad made Islam the state religion (Article 2A). Its provision decentralising the High Court into permanent benches was struck down in Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v. Bangladesh (1989) — the case that established the basic structure doctrine in Bangladesh.
• The Twelfth Amendment (1991) restored the parliamentary system after the fall of Ershad, making the President a constitutional figurehead.
• The Thirteenth Amendment (1996) created the non-party caretaker government to oversee elections; the Supreme Court declared it void in 2011, and the Fifteenth Amendment (30 June 2011) abolished it, restored the four founding principles to prominence, raised reserved women's seats to 50, and entrenched certain provisions as unamendable.

The parliamentary system today

The restored system makes the Prime Minister the effective executive, appointed by the President as the person commanding the confidence of the Jatiya Sangsad. The Sangsad has 350 members — 300 directly elected by first-past-the-post for five-year terms and 50 women's seats filled by proportional party nomination. Article 70 bars a member from voting against their party on pain of losing the seat, a powerful anti-defection clamp that concentrates power in party leadership.

The President, elected by Parliament, is largely ceremonial under Article 48(3), acting on the Prime Minister's advice except in appointing the PM and the Chief Justice. The Speaker presides over the Sangsad and acts as President when that office is vacant.

High-yield facts to retain

Memorise the pairing of amendment number to its signature change, the dates of system switches (1975 presidential, 1991 parliamentary), and the three landmark judgments — Anwar Hossain Chowdhury (1989), the Fifth Amendment case (2010), and the Thirteenth Amendment case (2011). Note Article 7B (inserted 2011), which makes the Preamble, Part I, Part II and Part III provisions unamendable.

Why this matters for the exam

Constitutional development is a guaranteed, high-frequency segment of the BCS Bangladesh Affairs paper, appearing in both the Preliminary MCQs and the Written examination. In the Preliminary, examiners favour crisp single-fact recall: the date the Constitution came into force (16 December 1972), the chair of the drafting committee (Dr. Kamal Hossain), the number of original articles (153), the four state principles, and which amendment did what. These are pure memory marks — predictable and fully recoverable with disciplined revision.

How it is tested in the Written paper

The Written paper demands analytical narrative. Past-year questions repeatedly ask candidates to trace the evolution of the parliamentary system, evaluate the caretaker government experiment, or discuss the significance of the Fifteenth Amendment. A scoring answer does three things: it states the constitutional provision or amendment with its date, it explains the political context (martial law, the 1990 mass uprising, the 2011 Supreme Court ruling), and it offers a reasoned judgment. Examiners reward candidates who connect text to consequence — for instance, linking Article 70 to the dominance of party leaders, or the abolition of the caretaker system to subsequent electoral disputes.

The PYQ angle

Recurring prompts include: 'Discuss the fundamental principles of state policy and their evolution', 'Examine the basic structure doctrine in the context of Anwar Hossain Chowdhury', and 'Analyse the constitutional position of the President in the parliamentary system.' The cluster of secularism → state religion → restoration (Articles 8, 2A, 12) is a perennial favourite because it captures the ideological contest over Bangladesh's identity.

Examiner's premium

The candidate who pairs precise dates and article numbers with a clear causal storyline outscores the one who narrates vaguely. Build a one-page table — amendment number, year, signature change, judicial fate — and you can answer almost any constitutional question in this paper. Always close a Written answer with a forward-looking line on contemporary debates around parliamentary accountability and electoral governance, which signals current-affairs awareness.