Online Desk 

The parliamentary special committee formed to recommend amendments to Bangladesh's Constitution will hold its first meeting today (Tuesday), with members expected to finalize the committee's work plan, scope of activities, stakeholder consultations and the framework for preparing its report.

The 12-member Special Committee on Constitutional Amendments was constituted on July 13, with Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed serving as its chairman. The committee has been tasked with examining necessary constitutional reforms and submitting recommendations to Parliament.

According to sources familiar with the process, the committee plans to seek opinions from constitutional experts, legal professionals, newspaper editors and other stakeholders. It will also review the existing Constitution, the constitutional proposals contained in the July National Charter, and reform commitments outlined in the BNP's election manifesto.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, committee chairman Salahuddin Ahmed said the first session would focus on finalizing the committee's roadmap. He said recommendations would be prepared after consultations with relevant stakeholders and submitted to Parliament. Based on those recommendations, the Ministry of Law will draft a constitutional amendment bill, which will then be debated and voted on in Parliament.

No deadline has yet been set for the committee to submit its report.

Meanwhile, opposition parties have opposed the committee since its formation, declining to nominate members. They staged a walkout from Parliament on the day the committee was established, arguing that constitutional reforms should have followed the process initiated during the interim government.

Political analysts say one of the committee's biggest challenges will be reconciling differences between the 48 constitutional reform proposals included in the July National Charter and the constitutional reform commitments made in the BNP's election manifesto.