JOF to submit memorandum to EC today seeking reelection

Jatiya Oikyafront is going to submit a memorandum to the Election Commission (EC) today (Thursday) demanding reelection under a nonparty caretaker government cancelling Sunday's election, reports UNB.

The memorandum will be submitted to the EC at 3pm on Thursday, Gano Forum central committee member Amin Afsari told UNB on Wednesday.

Before submitting the memorandum, he said the candidates who contested the 11th parliamentary elections with BNP's symbol the 'Sheaf of Paddy' will hold a meeting at 12 noon at BNP chairperson's Gulshan office.

"We've been asked to be there in BNP chairperson's Gulshan office by 12pm on Thursday to hold a meeting," said Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Rob) general secretary Abdul Malek Ratan who contested the election from Cumilla-4 seat with election symbol Sheaf of Paddy.

At the meeting at Gulshan, Ratan said they will discuss various election irregularities and work out their next course of action.

Though the newly elected MPs are going to take their oath at 11 am on Thursday at the oath-taking chamber in Parliament, the seven Oikyafront MPs-elect will not join the programme, some BNP and Gano Forum leaders told UNB.

Meanwhile, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday sent a letter to the EC informing it that all the Oikyafront candidates will simultaneously go to the Commission to submit a memorandum with documents of election irregularities at 3pm.

In Sunday's parliamentary elections, BNP bagged only five seats while its alliance partner Gano Forum two.

At a meeting on Monday evening, Jatiya Oikyafront senior leaders turned down the election results and decided to submit a memorandum to the Election Commission demanding reelection.