The BNP has expelled 15 of its central and grassroots-level leaders since the announcement of the schedule for the 12th parliamentary polls for breaching party discipline and joining the election in violation of the party's decision.
The punitive actions were taken against the party leaders by issuing press releases, signed by BNP senior joint general secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, on various occasions.
According to the press release, the 15 leaders--eight central and seven district-level ones-- violated the party discipline by taking a stand against the party. All these leaders were expelled from all posts of the BNP, including its primary membership.
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The eight central leaders are BNP Vice Chairman Shahjahan Omar, Chairperson’s Advisory Council Member Syed AK Ekramuzzaman, Weaver Affairs Assistant Secretary Rabeya Siraj, Executive Committee Members Mohammad Abu Zafar, Shah Shaheed Sarwar, Matiur Rahman Montu and Khandkar Ahsan Habib and AKM Fakhrul Islam.
The seven other leaders are Sherpur District unit BNP Assistant Office Secretary Zayedur Rashid Shyamal its Member Advocate M Abdullah, Panchagarh District unit BNP Member Abdul Aziz, Jamalpur’s Dewanganj Upazila unit BNP Member Mahbubul Hasan, Dhaka Dhamrai Municipal unit BNP President Dewan Nazim Uddin Manju, Chapainawabganj unit BNP joint convener Mohammad Abdul Matin and Jamalpur District unit BNP member Advocate Hossain Reza Babu.
Of them, Shahjahan Omar joined the Awami League on Thursday and submitted nomination papers for contesting the election from Jhalakathi-1 seat.
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Earlier, Shah Mohammad Abu Zafar joined newly registered party BNM to contest the polls from Faridpur-4 seat.
Matiur Rahman Montu submitted nomination papers to stay in the election race in Rajshahi-3, Khandkar Ahsan Habib in Tangail-5, AKM Fakhrul Islam in Jhalakathi-2, Syed AK Ekramuzzaman in Brahmanbaria-1 and Shah Shaheed Sarwar in Mymensingh-2 as independent runners.
Besides, M Abdullah filed the candidature to contest the polls from Sherpur-1 constituency and Abdul Matin from Chapainawabganj-3 as BNM runners while Zaidul Rashid Shyamal from Sherpur-2 as Trinamul BNP contender.
BNP expels Shahjahan Omar for ‘breaching party discipline’
Meanwhile, Mahbubul Hasan is contesting election from Jamalpur-1 seat, while Abdul Aziz from Panchagarh-2, Dewan Nazim Uddin Manju from Dhaka-20 as independent runners.
Rabeya Siraj was expelled from BNP as she was campaigning in favour of her daughter Shulka Siraj who filed nomination papers as an independent candidate in Tangail-4 seat.