Who will sit on opposition benches?

With the unofficial results of the 12th national polls out, the question now is what will the opposition in parliament look like.

Although the constitution is not clear about the formation of an opposition in the House, the rules of procedure in parliament shed some light.

It states: "Leader of the opposition means that member of the parliament who, in the opinion of the Speaker, is the leader in the House of the party, or of the group, as the case may be, in opposition to the government having the greatest numerical strength in the House."

The Election Commission announced the unofficial results of 298 constituencies yesterday. According to the results, Awami League bagged 222 seats while the main opposition in the 11th parliament Jatiya Party got only 11. Independents, most of whom are ruling party leaders, won 62 seats.

The situation resembles the one after the first parliamentary polls on March 7, 1973.

The AL had then won 293 out of 300 seats and opposition parties and independents got the remaining seven.

The seven MPs demanded that an opposition be formed but Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had turned it down.

There was no opposition party in the first parliament but a room in the parliament was allocated for the seven.

Ahead of the fourth parliamentary election in 1988, the Combined Opposition Party was formed comprising around six dozens of parties under the leadership of ASM Abdur Rab.

Amid boycotts by the AL, the BNP, and several other parties, the combine contested the polls against the then ruling Jatiya Party and emerged as the main opposition in parliament securing 19 seats.

There was no opposition in the parliament formed after the controversial February 1996 polls, boycotted by most parties, including the AL. That parliament lasted only 11 days.

Three parties joined that election and the BNP won 278 seats. Freedom Party got one while independents won 10 seats. The results were suspended in 10 constituencies and polling was suspended in one.

After the 2008 polls, the BNP, which got 30 seats, became the opposition.

Jatiya Party became the opposition after the 2014 polls with 34 seats. At that time, AL leader Haji Selim, elected as an independent, formed a 16-member alliance with independent MPs.

There is a chance of such an alliance this time around if the independents want to form the opposition in parliament, a political analyst says.

"As they were not elected with AL electoral symbol, there is no bar for them to become the opposition as the article 70 of the constitution will not be applicable to them," said Badiul Alam Majumder, secretary of Shujan, a citizen's platform.

Under article 70, lawmakers lose their seats in parliament if they vote in the House against the party that nominated them.

Asked about the matter, a top AL leader said some of the candidates who were not "AL independents" but won could become a part of the opposition along with the JP.

"All the independent MP-elects can form an alliance and sit on the opposition bench," he told The Daily Star, wishing anonymity.

JP Chairman GM Quader, however, said his party would be the opposition in the House no matter how many seats JP won.

"To form an opposition, there has to be a party. But the independents do not belong to any political party," he told this newspaper.

AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader spoke about the issue but he did not make matters clear.

Replying to a reporter's query, he said, "The new prime minister and the new leader of the house will decide considering the situation and reality."

Law Minister Anisul Huq, however, said it would not be possible to say who would be the opposition party until the independents clear their stance on forming an alliance.

"We have to wait for that," he told reporters in his constituency.

The AL leaders and activists are curious about government formation and the size of the cabinet, which will become clear within this month. The tenure of the current parliament expires on January 29.

The cabinet is likely to be formed any day after January 10, according to AL insiders. On January 10, the ruling party will hold a rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan to mark the homecoming day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.