Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said on Sunday that elections to the seats left vacant after five BNP MPs resigned, will be held within 90 days as per the constitution.
He came up with the remark while speaking with journalists at his office in Election Commission headquarters in Dhaka after news of the resignation of five BNP MPs emerged.
“We are yet to get a gazette of the vacant seats. If they (BNP MPs) truly resigned, the election to vacant seats will be held within 90 days,” he said, adding that the gazette will be circulated after the speaker or deputy speaker receives the resignation letters.
Alamgir said there is a constitutional obligation to hold elections for the vacant seats within 90 days after seats get vacated.
Asked about the resignation of the BNP MPs, he said they saw the matter as normal and an MP can resign.
“It is narrated in the constitution, how the resignation can go, here the Election Commission has nothing to gain or lose,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, five out of seven BNP members of the parliament (MPs) submitted their resignation to the speaker of the Parliament Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, as part of their anti-government movement with a 10-point demand that includes dissolution of parliament. The BNP MPs submitted their resignation letters at 12:20 pm.
The seven lawmakers are Md Zahidur Rahman from Thakurgaon-3, Md Mosharof Hosen from Bogra-4, Gulam Mohammad Siraj from Bogra-6, Md Harunur Rashid from Chapainawabganj-3, Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan from Brahmanbaria-2 and reserved seat MP Rumeen Farhana.
Among them, Md Harunur Rashid of Chapainawabganj-3, who is now in Australia and ailing MP of Brahmanbaria-2 Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan submitted their resignation through Rumeen Farhana.
The MPs sent their resignation through an e-mail on Saturday.
BNP on Saturday unveiled a 10-point charter of demands from the Golapbagh rally aimed at unseating the government through a simultaneous movement.
