Bangladesh News

The lawmakers-elect of the BNP and its allies Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party will be sworn in this afternoon by Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar.

Party sources said after oath taking, the BNP’s parliamentary party will hold a meeting to elect the leader and deputy leader of the opposition in parliament.

The BNP might also pick its nominee for the post of deputy speaker of parliament as the ruling party has announced to elect the deputy speaker from the opposition.

Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar called on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office late last night. They talked for about an hour and discussed several issues including oath taking. Sircar came out of the party office just after midnight.

A few top BNP leaders including barrister Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Nazrul Islam Khan and some MPs-elect were present at the meeting.

“Madam [Khaleda] discussed several issues including oath taking with the speaker,” a BNP lawmaker-elect present at the meeting told The Daily Star. He, however, refused to elaborate.

Party policymakers are considering BNP lawmakers-elect AKM Hafizur Rahman of Bogra-2 constituency and Mohammad Mosharaf Hossain of Feni-3 as their nominees for deputy speaker, the sources added.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is going to be the leader of the opposition, might choose MK Anwar or Salauddin Quader Chowdhury as her deputy in parliament.

In the December 29 parliamentary election, BNP won 29 seats, its key ally Jamaat won two and Bangladesh Jatiya Party one seat. Khaleda won three seats and she will have to vacate two of them before taking oath.

Meanwhile, with the BNP candidate winning the Noakhali-1 seat in the January 12 poll, the number of BNP lawmakers-elect now stands at 28.

The Election Commission yesterday sent the gazette of the official result of Noakhali-1 polls to the Parliament Secretariat so the lawmakers-elect can take oath along with others.

With this, 31 lawmakers are scheduled to take oath today and the Parliament Secretariat has completed preparations for the oath taking ceremony to be held at 4:00pm.

Invitation letters will be kept with the parliament secretariat reception, officials said.

The BNP-led alliance, which faced a humiliating defeat in the December 29 parliamentary elections, skipped oath taking on January 4.

The lawmakers-elect from the majority party Awami League and its allies and the independent lawmakers were sworn in on January 3 and 4.