Bangladesh, July 31 -- The National Consensus Commission has decided to establish a 100-seat upper house of parliament based on proportional representation (PR), where seats will be allocated according to the share of votes each party secures in the lower house election.

On Thursday, the decision came after a prolonged disagreement among political parties over the upper house's formation.

With no consensus reached, the matter was left to the commission's discretion in the 23rd session of reform dialogues.

Under the commission's proposal, the upper house will have no independent legislative authority. Except for money bills, all proposed laws must pass through both chambers.

If the upper house fails to act within one month, a bill will...