The National Consensus Commission has proposed a revised proposal to allow women to contest 7 percent of the seats, while retaining the existing 50 reserved seats for women. The revised proposal was presented on the 22nd day of the second phase of the dialogue between political parties at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Wednesday.

According to the commission's proposal, parties contesting the elections must field women candidates in at least 7 percent of the seats they contest. That is, if a party contests 100 seats, at least 7 will be women candidates. If a party contests 300 seats, it must field 21 women candidates.

The proposal of the Constitutional Reform Commission calls for direct election of women in 100 seats. The proposal of the Election Reform Commission proposes direct election of 100 women seats in a rotating system. Although the NCP supports the proposal of direct election of 100 seats in a rotating system; BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Islamic Movement did not agree. CPB, BSD, JSD are in favor of direct election of women seats.

Islamic parties including Jamaat are in favor of distributing 100 seats in proportion to the votes. Like-minded parties including BNP are talking about 100 reserved seats under the existing system.

The commission's revised proposal on July 14 stated that parties that nominate more than 25 seats will nominate women in at least one-third of the seats.

However, most parties opposed the proposal that day. Later, in another day's discussion, BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed proposed to keep the existing 50 reserved seats and also make women candidates in 5 percent of the seats. This will be implemented in the next election. It was said that women candidates in 10 percent of the seats in the next election.

The commission presented a new proposal on Wednesday. It says that women's representation in the National Parliament will be gradually increased to 100 seats. By making the necessary amendments to Clause (3) of Article 65 of the Constitution, each political party will nominate women candidates for 7 percent of the seats in the general election following the signing of the National Charter 2025 in July, while maintaining the existing 50 reserved seats.

In the 14th National Election, each political party will nominate a female candidate for direct contest in 15 percent of the seats. Political parties will increase this percentage by 5 percent in each general election, increasing the representation of women in direct elections to 100. In the 15th National Election, political parties will nominate a sufficient number of women so that 100 women will be directly elected to the National Assembly.

The 17th Amendment of 2018 extended the term of the 50 reserved seats for women by 25 years. The women's seats will remain in place until 2043.