Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina has been elected as the leader of the House for a record-extending fourth consecutive term -- her fifth in total.

The newly elected MPs of the Awami League, under the leadership of Hasina, held their first meeting at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Hasina was unanimously picked to lead the Awami League in the 12th national parliament after the party's landslide victory in the Jan 7 election.

Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the winner of the Rangpur-6 seat, retains her speakership, with Shamsul Haque Tuku as her deputy.

Awami League stalwart Matia Chowdhury will serve as the deputy leader of the House and Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury will continue as the chief whip.

Earlier, members of the newly-elected 12th national parliament were sworn in at a ceremony in the National Assembly.

Voting was held in 299 of 300 parliamentary seats on Sunday. The outcome of a parliamentary race in Mymensingh was held up due to the suspension of results at one voting centre. The High Court suspended the results of the Dhaka-4 parliamentary race on Tuesday after the Awami League candidate for the seat made allegations of irregularities.

The Awami League secured an absolute majority as its candidates won 222 of 299 seats in the national election.

Independent candidates, almost all of whom are Awami League leaders, won the second highest number of seats with 62.

The Jatiya Party, the official opposition in the last two parliaments, won only 11 seats, losing over half of the 26 seats the Awami League had ceded to them in a seat-sharing deal.

Two members of the 14-Party Alliance -- the Workers Party and JaSaD -- won one seat each. The Kalyan Party, once in an alliance with the BNP, took one seat.

The shock victories scored by independents have raised questions about the composition and role of the opposition in parliament.

Meanwhile, the largest opposition group BNP boycotted the vote as it pressed ahead with its demand for elections under a caretaker administration.