The 50 women elected to serve in the 12th parliament as reserved seat MPs have taken their oath of office.

They were sworn in by Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury at a ceremony in parliament on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Deputy Leader of the House Matia Chowdhury also attended the ceremony.

The speaker opened the swearing-in ceremony by administering the oath of office to 48 reserved seat MPs from the ruling Awami League. Two other MPs from the Jatiya Party, the parliamentary opposition, were sworn in afterwards.

The reserved seat MPs joined the parliamentary session at 5 pm following the ceremony.

The parliamentary seats reserved for women are distributed per the seats won by the parties in the general elections. The MPs elected in the general parliamentary seats cast ballots for these reserved seats.

In this year’s Jan 7 elections, the Awami League secured 223 seats, the Jatiya Party 11, the JaSad, Workers Party, and Kalyan Party won one each and independent candidates won 62 seats.

According to the proportional allocation of parliamentary seats, the Awami League, along with the independent election winners, received 48 seats, while the Jatiya Party got two.