A meeting of more than 400 National Assembly and provincial assembly members, together forming the Constituent Assembly, took place on April 10. A provisional government, with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as president, had been formed in April 1971. But with Rahman in a West Pakistani jail and the secessionist leaders exiled in India, the government did not really start operating until the cabinet-in-exile returned to Dacca on December 22, six days after the Pakistani surrender. On January 10, Rahman returned by way of London and New Delhi, having been released by Pakistani president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and a provisional constitution order was promulgated the very next day. Rahman became prime minister on January 12 with the intention of working toward a parliamentary government on the British model. The transition to legislative government appears to have been remarkably orderly after the upheavals of last year, and on October 12 a draft constitution with a strong socialist bias was announced. This document, providing for a unicameral legislature, a responsible cabinet and prime minister, a president as head of state, and universal franchise at the age of 18, was approved by the assembly November 4, to become effective December 16, the first anniversary of Bengali liberation. Until the new constitution was approved, the assembly had no legislative powers; all laws had been promulgated by presidential ordinances. General elections for the new legislature have been scheduled for March 7, 1973.
