The two MPs-elect from Dr Kamal Hossain-led Gano Forum say they will be taking oath as lawmakers of the 11th National Parliament in March.
The Gano Forum, however, says that the decision of Jatiya Oikya Front to give up its parliament seats stands and anyone violating that will face action in line with the party’s charter.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Wednesday (Feb 27), Sultan Md Mansur, who won the Moulvibazar-2 seat under the ‘paddy sheaf’ symbol, said that he will take the oath to his office “by Mar 15”.
A former vice-president of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union or DUCSU and president of Bangladesh Chhatra League, Sultan Mansur had risen as high as to the position of organising secretary in the Awami League.
He went under the fold of Gono Forum chief Kamal after he faced the wrath of the Awami League leadership for seeking reforms during the 2007-08 military-controlled caretaker government.
He later joined a loose political group, the Jatiya Oikya Prokriya led by Kamal Hossain and Bikalpadhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury.
“I joined the Jatiya Oikya Front as a representative of the Jatiya Oikya Prokriya. Since it’s mandatory to be a member of a registered party to contest the election, I vied as a Gano Forum candidate,” he said on Wednesday.
Mansur said he “doesn’t care”, if the Gano Forum decides to oust him.
The other Gano Forum MP-elect, who won the Sylhet-2 seat with the party’s ‘rising sun’ symbol, says he will take the oath to office in the first week of March, that too with the party’s green light.
“I have discussed it with Dr Kamal Hossain, he’s positive about it,” Mokabbir told Bangla Tribune.
Gano Forum General Secretary Mostofa Mohsin Montu, however, says Mansur and Mokabbir will violate the party’s decision if they take oath as lawmakers.
“The Jatiya Oikya Front’s decision to not join the parliament stands. Any one violating it will face action. If the party charter calls for expulsion, then that will happen with them,” he told Bangla Tribune.
However, being expelled from the party means Monsur and Mokabbir may lose their membership in parliament, according to the Bangladesh Constitution.
Article 70, which addresses the vacation of seat on resignation or voting against the party, reads
“A person elected as a member of Parliament at an election at which he was nominated as a candidate by a political party shall vacate his seat if he –
(a) resigns from that party; or
(b) votes in Parliament against that party ;
but shall not thereby be disqualified for subsequent election as a member of Parliament.”
The Awami League has won 257 seats in the Dec 30 election and has formed the government for a third straight term.
The BNP and its allies in the coalition Jatiya Oikya Front, including Gano Forum, won only eight seats.
The BNP candidates who won are its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in Bogura-6, Mosharraf Hossain in Bogura-4, Zahidur Rahman in Thakurgaon-3, Aminul Islam in Chapainawabganj-2, Harun-ur-Rashid in Chapainawabganj-3 and Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan in Brahmanbaria-2.
The Jatiya Oikya Front boycotted the results of the polls late on Election Day with its Convener Kamal Hossain calling for a fresh election.
Since then, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul, who serves as the coalition’s spokesperson, has said several times that the MPs-elect will not take the oath to their office.
Several others in Oikya Front top brass, including ASM Abdur Rab of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Gano Forum leaders Subrata Chowdhury and Mostofa Mohsin Montu have also maintained it on several occasions.
