Powers and Rights
The President of Bangladesh appoints a cabinet with the Prime Minister and other ministers from among the Members. The Prime Minister must be a parliamentarian, and so must at least 90% of the Ministers. The President must appoint a Prime Minister who, in his opinion, commands the confidence of the majority of the House. The cabinet remains answerable to the Parliament.
The President of Bangladesh is elected by the Parliament through an open ballot voting. As a result, opposition party seldom pitches a candidate and the government-party nominee is uncontested. Current President Zillur Rahman and former Presidents Iajuddin Ahmed, A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury and Shahabuddin Ahmed were all elected Presidents unopposed. The Parliament can also impeach the President by a two-third majority, although no President has ever been impeached in the past.
The Parliament can form parliamentary standing committees as it sees fit, for the purposes of examining bills, reviewing law enforcements and any other matter of public importance. The de facto power of the committees have always been nominal; the de jure power too is ambiguous, especially after the Supreme Court ruled that is was not answerable to summons from parliamentary committees.
Article 78 of the Constitution provides immunity to the speeches, actions and votes of the Members done within parliamentary sessions, and hold members not answerable for any such actions to the court. The parliament itself is vested the power to provide indemnity to anybody in service of the nation under Article 46. This allowed the 2nd parliament in 1979 to ratify the Indemnity Ordinance that provided indemnity to the murderers of Sheikh Mujib.
Read more about this topic: Jatiyo Sangshad
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