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Published : 30 Apr 2019, 08:36 PM
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury made the announcement in parliament on Tuesday evening, a day after the deadline for swearing-in passed. On the last day, the BNP in a stunning reversal decided to join the House.
The Election Commission will now hold fresh polls to Fakhrul’s seat.
Four BNP MPs took oath of office on instructions from acting chief in exile Tarique Rahman on Monday after it had expelled another leader for doing the same but in defiance of the party.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir speaking at a programme in Dhaka on Tuesday.
He refrained from taking oath “following party decision” and “as part of their strategy”, the BNP leader said.
The speaker also said she had not received any such application from Fakhrul.
“Steps will be taken in line with the constitution if someone doesn’t take oath in stipulated time,” she told bdnews24.com in the afternoon.
“A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat if fails, within the period of ninety days from the date of the first meeting of Parliament after his election, to make and subscribe the oath or affirmation prescribed for a member of Parliament in the Third Schedule. Provided that the Speaker may, before the expiration of that period, for good cause extend it,” states Article 67 (1) (a) of the constitution.
When the BNP and its Jatiya Oikya Front alliance had announced that their eight MPs-elect would not join “illegitimate” parliament formed after “rigged vote”, EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed had said it would take measures to hold a fresh ballot if any MPs-elect did not take oath.
The BNP had joined the general election under the umbrella of the Oikya Front led by Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain after much drama with its chief Khaleda Zia in jail and her son Tarique in London as a fugitive from law.
Khaleda’s party boycotted the 2014 elections as its demand for a non-partisan polls-time government was not met. The party, however, contested in the parliamentary election this time with Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina heading the government.
After the four BNP MPs took oath on Monday, Mirza Fakhrul said the party wanted to push in and outside parliament for Khaleda’s release and fresh elections for the “revival of democracy”.
File Photo: Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addressing a campaign rally in Bugura before the elections.
He was defeated by his main rival the Awami League’s Ramesh Chandra Sen in 2008.
The BNP stayed away from the last elections in 2014 and Ramesh defeated Fakhrul again in Thakurgaon.
In the contest for Bogura-6 seat, Fakhrul’s main rival was Nurul Islam Omar of the Jatiya Party after the Awami League left the constituency for its key ally.
