Shawdesh desk:

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said on Sunday that the elections to seats left vacant, after resignation of five lawmakers of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, would be held within 90 days as per the constitution.

He came up with the remark while speaking with journalists at his office in the Election Commission Bhaban in Dhaka, after news of resignation of five BNP lawmakers 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.

Commissioner Alamgir said that there was 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 that they saw the matter as normal and a lawmaker could resign.

‘It is narrated in the constitution, how the resignation can go, here the EC has nothing to gain or lose,’ he said.

Earlier on the day, five out of seven BNP lawmakers submitted their resignation to speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, as part of their anti-government movement with a 10-point demand that includes dissolution of parliament.

The BNP lawmakers submitted their resignation letters at 12:20 pm.

The MPs who resigned are Md. Zahidur Rahman, Thakurgaon-3; Md. Mosharof Hosen, Bogura-4; Gulam Mohammad Siraj, Bogura-6; Md. Aminul Islam, Chapainawabganj-2 and Rumeen Farhana, from women’s reserved seats.

Md Harunur Rashid of Chapainawabganj-3, who is now in Australia and ailing lawmaker of Brahmanbaria-2 Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan could not submit resignation to the Speaker on Sunday.

They will tender their resignation later as they have to submit it in person as per the constitution.

Earlier, Rumeen Farhana announced the decision from the party’s Golapbagh rally on Saturday.

The lawmakers sent their resignation through an email on Saturday.

BNP on Saturday unveiled a 10-point charter of demands from Golapbagh rally aimed at unseating the government through a simultaneous movement.