Opposition party BNP on Tuesday invited their candidates in the 11th general election to meet with them on January 3 to decide on the next course of action, after losing the election by a huge margin to the Awami League-led Grand Alliance.
The party asked the contestants to come to Dhaka on Thursday, the same day when the newly-elected lawmakers will be sworn into parliament.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Alamgir on Tuesday sent letters to the candidates to appear at the party chairperson's Gulshan office at 10am, to hold a meeting to discuss their next course of action.
The candidates were asked to bring documents of irregularities during the 11th parliamentary election; lists of agents and activists arrested, and documents of the electoral violence to the meeting, said officials.
At the 11th parliamentary polls, BNP contested 258 constituencies under the sheaf of paddy symbol, where only six candidates under the BNP's sheaf of paddy symbol and one with Gono Forum's rising sun won the seats.
Among them: Fakhrul has been elected for the Bogra 6 constituency, Mosharraf Hossain for the Bogra 4 constituency, Zahidur Rahman for Thakurgaon 3, Aminul Islam for Chapainawabganj 2, and Harunur Rashid from Chapainawabganj 3.
Meanwhile, BNP’s other heavyweight leaders who had contested the election faced massive setbacks.
What’s next?
On Monday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said his party will decide on participating in the parliament later, after rejecting the results of the 11th general election.
He said this while responding to the queries of journalists at a press briefing held at the party chief's office in Gulshan on Monday.
He said: “Since we have rejected the results, what we do next, will be decided later.”
Fakhrul claimed: “Votes were cast the night before the polls. There were many other irregularities in the election. Now there are two options—taking legal action and launching movement—that remain ahead of us. We are considering both.”
Jatiya Oikya Front, where BNP is a key ally, on the same day decided to submit memorandum to the Election Commission on January 3 demanding a re-election under a non-partisan government.
“As per the decision of Jatiya Oikya Front to take all the candidates for submission of memorandum to EC demanding re-election under a non-party government, BNP secretary general issued a directive asking all candidates to appear in Dhaka on Jan 3,” confirmed BNP chairperson's press wing official Shairul Kabir Khan.
