The Gano Forum says its MPs-elect Sultan Md Mansur and Mokabbir Khan will face actions if they take oath to their offices ignoring the party’s decision.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Sunday (Mar 3), its General Secretary Mostofa Mohsin Montu said, “The Jatiya Oikya Front and Gano Forum’s decision is to not join the parliament. If Sultan Mansur ignores it, the party will take actions as well as initiate legal steps.”
The two Gano Forum MPs-elect confirmed Bangla Tribune on Saturday that they have written to the Speaker’s office for taking oath on Mar 7.
Reiterating that the party’s decision to not join the parliament stands, Montu said, “Let me make it clear, we will not deceive the nation.”
He said Monsur joined the Gano Forum as a member in November last year, when “he pledged to abide by the party’s charter.
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.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Feb 27, Monsur said, ““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.”
Mansur said then 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, has also sought a berth in parliament by writing to the Speaker the same day Monsur wrote.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Feb 27, he confirmed of taking oath to his office, that too with the party’s green light.
He, however, skipped a meeting of Gano Forum on Sunday, according to General Secretary Montu.
“We had called him for a meeting today, but he didn’t show up. He will also face action if he takes oath,” he told Bangla Tribune.
Montu said the Gano Forum would take “every possible measure”, including writing to the Speaker and Election Commission to scrap parliament membership of Monsur and Mokabbir/
“But the next course of action will be decided after discussing with the party’s leadership, including Dr Kamal Hossain,” he added.
The Constitution’s 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 offices.
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 been also maintaining it.