All seven of the BNP's representatives in parliament are quitting their roles as lawmakers.
The MPs have sent their resignation letters on acting party chief Tarique Rahman's orders, the party announced at its much-publicised antigovernment rally in Dhaka's Golapbagh on Saturday, reports bdnews24.com.
The seven representatives are Md Zahidur Rahman, Md Mosharof Hosen, Gulam Mohammad Siraj, Md Aminul Islam, Md Harunur Rashid, Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan and Rumeen Farhana.
Harunur, the MP from Chapainawabganj-3, is currently not in Bangladesh, but he reportedly sent his signed resignation letter from abroad while the others have already submitted theirs by email.
BNP participated in the 2018 national elections under the banner of the Jatiya Oikya Front and won seven parliamentary races, but one of them was vacated as the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir refused to take his oath of office. The party was later allocated a seat from those reserved for women.
Initially, BNP said its candidates would boycott parliament, alleging widespread election fraud. But they later changed tack and were sworn in as MPs.
Four years on, the party has now decided to walk away from parliament amid its antigovernment movement.
"We can no longer be a part of this illegal parliament," Rumeen said at the rally.
“Our resignation letters have already been sent by e-mail [to the speaker]. Tomorrow, we will hand deliver it to parliament.”
Apart from Harunur, all of the BNP's lawmakers attended the event where they took turns in announcing their resignation.
On their decision to join parliament, Rumeen said, "Party leader Khaleda Zia and acting chairman Tarique Rahman along with the standing committee decided to send us to the parliament. We said we would try to make use of as much space as we get."
“But whenever I stood up to address the assembly, the mic would be turned off. I wasn't allowed to speak. When I wanted to talk about you, the people, I was stopped. So it doesn't make a difference if we're there or not.”
