Post-Independence Bangladesh

This article is a chronological overview of Bangladesh from 1972 to the present, beginning after the conflict that ended with the surrender at Ramna Racecourse on 16 December 1971 ⁵. It records constitutional changes, elections and their outcomes, the 1974 famine, and the sequence of interim administrations. It records events and constitutional provisions; it does not assess the performance of any government, and it does not characterise individuals.

Constitutional framework

The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 4 November 1972 and came into force on 16 December 1972, the date of Victory Day ¹. It has 153 articles arranged under eleven parts and four schedules, covering the Republic, Fundamental Principles of State Policy, Fundamental Rights, the Executive, Prime Minister and the Cabinet, the Legislature, Legislative and Financial Procedure, Ordinance Making Power, the Judiciary, Elections, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Services of Bangladesh, the Public Service Commission, Emergency Provisions, Amendment of the Constitution, and Miscellaneous ¹. As of the retrieved entry, dated 15 October 2023, the Constitution had undergone seventeen amendments and changes, some by constitutional amendment and some under Martial Law Proclamation Orders ¹.

Bangladesh began its constitutional journey with an ad hoc Constitution under the Proclamation of Independence Order of 10 April 1971, which invested the president of the exile government with executive and legislative authority and the power to appoint a prime minister ¹. That order was replaced by the Provisional Constitution of Bangladesh Order of 1972, which declared the members elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan in the elections held in December 1970 and March 1971 as the Constituent Assembly of the Republic and changed the form of government to a parliamentary system with a cabinet headed by a Prime Minister ¹.

Constitutional amendments

• Fourth Amendment (1975). Under the Constitution (Fourth Amendment) Bill 1975, the parliamentary system was abandoned and a presidential system introduced ¹.
• Fifth Amendment (1979). All Proclamations, Martial Law Regulations, Martial Law Orders and other laws and tribunals made during the period from 15 August 1975 to 9 April 1979 were ratified and confirmed ¹.
• Seventh Amendment (1986). The subsequent Martial Law Proclamation, Chief Martial Law Administrator’s Orders, Martial Law Regulations and Ordinances were confirmed and ratified ¹.
• Twelfth Amendment (1991). The Prime Minister became the executive head and the President the constitutional head; the executive power of the Republic is exercised by the Prime Minister, whose cabinet is collectively responsible to the Parliament ¹.
• Thirteenth Amendment (1996). Provided for a non-party caretaker government to work from the date the Chief Adviser enters office after Parliament is dissolved until a new Prime Minister enters office ¹.
• Fifteenth Amendment (2011). The provision for caretaker government was removed ¹.

The retrieved entry records that from 15 August 1975 to 9 April 1979 there were several rounds of martial law interspersed with civil governments, and that the governments of that period neither abrogated the Constitution nor observed it fully, each ruling partly by decree and partly by the Constitution ¹. The multi-party presidential form of government continued until 1991 ¹.

The 1974 famine

The retrieved entry records that there was a shortage of food in 1974 throughout the world, and that the situation in Bangladesh was rooted in the historic evolution of the society and in the management of the food distribution system in the face of severe floods ⁴. It records the following indicators: the index of per capita real income stood at 87 in 1972–73 against a base year of 1969–70; over the same period the index of agricultural production declined to 84 and of industrial production to 66; the nominal cost of living for industrial workers increased by more than 100 per cent and for agricultural labourers by about 150 per cent; and real wages of agricultural and industrial labourers fell by 24 per cent and 48 per cent respectively between 1970 and 1973 ⁴.

Three districts — Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet — were affected severely, and the months of greatest impact were July through October 1974 ⁴. Occasional deaths due to starvation were reported as early as January 1974, and initiatives to open langarkhanas (লঙ্গরখানা, kitchen gruels) were not encouraged by the political and administrative authorities until the end of September, when the famine had taken hold ⁴.

Elections, 1973–2008

The retrieved entry records nine parliamentary elections in Bangladesh during this period: in 1973, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996 (15 February), 1996 (12 June), 2001 and 2008 ³. The election of 1991 was held on 27 February 1991, with 62,081,793 voters and 34,477,803 votes cast, a turnout of 55.45 per cent, for 300 seats contested by 75 parties; the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 140 seats and the Awami League 88 ³.

The entries record the following results for the remaining elections listed. In 1973, held on 7 March, turnout was 54.90 per cent of 35,205,642 voters and the Awami League won 293 seats ³. In 1979, held on 18 February, turnout was 50.94 per cent of 38,789,239 voters and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 207 seats ³. In 1986, held on 7 May, turnout was 60.31 per cent of 47,876,979 voters and the Jatiya Party won 153 seats ³. In 1988, held on 3 March, turnout was 54.93 per cent of 49,863,829 voters and the Jatiya Party won 251 seats ³. In February 1996, held on 15 February, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 278 seats ³. In June 1996, held on 12 June, of 56,702,422 voters 42,880,564 cast votes and the Awami League won 146 seats ³. In 2001, held on 1 October, of 74,946,368 voters 56,185,707 cast votes, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, contesting as part of a four-party alliance, won 193 seats while the Awami League won 62 ³. In 2008, held on 29 December, of 81,130,973 voters 69,172,649 cast votes, and the Awami League, contesting as part of a grand alliance, won 230 seats while the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 30 ³.

The retrieved entry records, as its own assessment, that elections in the decades following 1975 tended to become more an instrument for the legitimisation and formalisation of a government than for the institutionalisation of democracy, that a number were either boycotted by large numbers or provoked agitation, and that the elections of 1991 and 1996 were the products of popular movements ³.

Interim and caretaker administrations

1990. Demand for a neutral caretaker government was raised by the combined opposition and set out in the 1990 Joint Declaration of the Three Party Alliances, which specified that the alliances would participate in elections only when conducted by a neutral non-partisan caretaker government ². On 6 December 1990 state power was handed over to Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, the Chief Justice of Bangladesh, who became Acting President and head of the caretaker government, and 17 advisers were subsequently appointed ². The retrieved entry records that this caretaker government was constituted without prior constitutional amendment, and that all measures it took were subsequently ratified in 1991 by the popularly elected Fifth Jatiya Sangsad ².

1996. After sustained opposition pressure, the Thirteenth Amendment bill was raised in the Sangsad on 21 March 1996 and passed on 26 March 1996 by 268 votes to 0, inserting Articles 58(B), (C), (D) and (E) providing for an 11-member non-party caretaker government headed by a Chief Adviser ². The Sixth Jatiya Sangsad was dissolved on 30 March 1996 and a caretaker government was formed under the amendment, with the former Chief Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman as Chief Adviser; ten advisers were sworn in on 3 April 1996, the seventh parliamentary election was held on 12 June 1996, and the caretaker government continued in office until 23 June 1996 ².

2001. The third caretaker government was formed on 15 July 2001 under the former Chief Justice Latifur Rahman as Chief Adviser, with ten advisers sworn in two days later; the eighth parliamentary election was held on 1 October 2001, and the caretaker government continued in office until 10 October 2001 ².

2006–2009. After the completion of the BNP government’s tenure in October 2006 there was disagreement over the formation of a caretaker government and violence followed; the last retired chief justice declined to become chief adviser, and the President, Professor Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed, took over the office of chief adviser and constituted a council of advisers ². The ninth parliamentary election was fixed for 22 January 2007; a dialogue on electoral reforms between the BNP and the Awami League failed, and the President declared a state of emergency on 1 January 2007 and cancelled the proposed elections, subsequently stepping down as chief adviser ². A further caretaker government led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was formed, declared a road map for holding the polls by December 2008, and carried out a number of reform measures; the ninth parliamentary election was held on 29 December 2008, and that caretaker government continued in office until 3 January 2009 ².

Could not verify

The retrieved "Election" entry lists nine parliamentary elections to 2008 but does not extend beyond that date, so elections held after 2008 are not covered by the sources used here and no figures are given for them. No Banglapedia entry on the events of 1975, on the periods of military-led government, or on the 1990 transition as such was retrievable; those periods are documented here from the "Constitution" and "Caretaker Government" entries, which describe them in general terms rather than as dated sequences. No entry on the 1974 famine resolves under the title "Famine of 1974"; the account above is taken from the general "Famine" entry.

Related articles

Bangladesh Liberation War · Partition of 1947 and East Pakistan · History of Bangladesh

Disputed points

The positions below are reported as their holders state them. This reference does not take a position on the disagreement, and none of the positions is presented as the default.

The death toll of the 1974 famine. The retrieved entry records that according to some estimates more than one million people died during the period from July 1974 to January 1975, and that the government estimate of mortality was 26,000 ⁴. The two figures differ by more than an order of magnitude and the entry does not reconcile them; both are recorded here as attributed figures, and neither is stated in this site’s own voice. [disputed]

The assessment of the post-1975 election record. The "Election" entry states, as the assessment of its contributor, Sirajul Islam, that elections after 1975 tended to serve the legitimisation of a government rather than the institutionalisation of democracy, and describes features including boycott and agitation ³. This is a historiographical and political assessment and is reproduced here as the entry’s position, not as a finding of this site. [disputed]

The constitutional status of the 1975–1979 period. The retrieved entry records that the governments of 15 August 1975 to 9 April 1979 neither abrogated the Constitution nor observed it fully, and that the constitutional anomalies of the period were regularised and confirmed by the Fifth Amendment in 1979 ¹. The characterisation of that period’s constitutional status is recorded here as the entry’s account. [disputed]

Sources

5 sources cited. Tiers: T1 official or primary, T2 scholarly or curated, T3 media of record.

1. Constitution — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Constitution
2. Caretaker Government — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Caretaker_Government
3. Election — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Election
4. Famine — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Famine
5. War of Liberation, The — Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://web.archive.org/web/2023id_/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/War_of_Liberation,_The

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Every factual claim above is attributed to a numbered source. Figures marked “as of” were retrieved on that date. Not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.