BNP Standing Committee member and Dhaka-3 MP Goyeshwar Chandra Roy has said raising questions about Article 70 of the constitution before the presidential election is beside the point.
He made the remarks to reporters Sunday after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A M M Nasir Uddin, in the CEC’s conference room at the Election Building in Agargaon, capital, declared BNP candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s nomination valid following scrutiny.
Goyeshwar Chandra Roy said Bangladesh’s 23rd presidential election is scheduled for August 20. He said BNP submitted its nomination papers on the 13th of this month, and today was the scrutiny process. He said the party had nominated its secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, as its candidate, with Standing Committee member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan as proposer and himself as seconder.
He said he was pleased to announce that their candidate, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, has been declared a valid candidate for the 23rd presidential election. He said they will now await the election on the 20th.
Asked about Jamaat representatives — that is, representatives of the 11-party alliance — saying Article 70 needs to be amended, Goyeshwar said: “That’s a chapter for later. If the next parliament considers it collectively, it could happen. Right now, before the presidential election, the question is beside the point. There’s no benefit in creating confusion.”
Asked about the 11-party alliance’s position that this is a major obstacle to the presidential election, the BNP Standing Committee member said: “No, it’s not a major obstacle. I must proceed according to the existing constitution. Where that constitution presents an obstacle, I must overcome it through parliamentary amendment.”
Asked whether any thought had been given to the party’s secretary general position, he said: “The party’s secretary general isn’t a matter for the Election Commission to consider. That’s a matter for our Standing Committee at our Gulshan office.”
Also present in the BNP delegation were Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan, Chief Whip of parliament Nurul Islam Moni, and parliamentary whip Mia Nuruddin Ahammed Apu.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report