Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said that she is yet to receive any letter from BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir regarding his oath taking.
The letter will be accepted if it reached the parliament secretariat by Monday (Apr 29), she told the media on Tuesday (Apr 30).
“If it didn’t reach by that time, steps will be taken for that constituency as per the constitution,” she added.
According to the Constitution the MP’s elect have to take oath within 90 days from the first meeting of the Parliament after being elected.
Article 67 (1) of the Constitution says that a member of parliament shall vacate his seat if he fails to take oath within that deadline.
The Constitution, however, allows the Speaker to extend the deadline upon requests by MPs-elect.
Mirza Fakhrul bagged the Bogura-6 constituency during the Dec 30 national polls which the BNP contested in coalition with Jatiya Oikya Front.
After the heavy defeat to the ruling Awami League, BNP and its Oikya Front alliance said their eight MPs-elect would not join parliament in protest against vote rigging.
The two MPs-elect of its partner the Gano Forum – Sultan Mohammed Mansur Ahmed and Mokobbir Khan – have already joined parliament.
Dr Kamal Hossain-led Gano Forum has expelled Ahmed, but Khan was seen sitting next to other leaders, including its chief, onstage the party’s Special National Council.
The rest of the five BNP lawmakers have taken the oath of office with Jahidur Rahman from Thakurgaon-3 becoming the first to be sworn in.
Rahman has been stripped off his preliminary membership of the party.
Meanwhile, Harun ur Rashid of Chapainawabganj-3, Aminul Islam of Chapainawabganj-2, Ukil Abdus Sattar of Brahmanbarhia-2 and Mosharraf Hossain of Bogura-4 were sworn in on Monday (Apr 29).
They said that they took oath at the order of acting chief Tarique Rahman who has been in self exile in the United Kingdom for over a decade. Fakhrul remains the only BNP leader to take oath.