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President may be elected Feb 18

BNP wants lajuddin to be impeached

Shakhawat Liton and Rashidul Hasan
The main opposition BNP wants to see President lajuddin Ahmed impeached for 'violating the constitution by failing as the chief adviser to hold the parliamentary polls within the stipulated 90 days'.
Policymakers of the ruling Awami League (AL) however do not subscribe to the BNP's views on grounds for the possible impeachment.
They think the president had flouted the constitution by assuming the chief adviser's role' in the first place.
Against this backdrop, the Election Commission (EC) yesterday informed Speaker Abdul Hamid about its plans to hold the presidential election on February 18 as lajuddin's tenure had long expired, sources in the EC said.
The commission will unveil the formal schedule once it has the speaker's consent. If the election is not uncontested, the House will be the polling venue, added the sources. Jafty Star
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already announced that veteran Awami Leaguer Zillur Rahman will be her party's nominee for the presidency.
BNP, which had lajuddin as president following AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury's resignation in June 2002, now seeks his removal from office out of sheer displeasure with the way he had acted, said party sources.
"We are planning to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president for his gross misconduct. We will discuss the issue with the ruling party," senior BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury told The Daily Star yesterday.
The opposition however lacks the strength needed to bring off the bid alone as the treasury bench enjoys a three-fourth majority in parliament.
BNP and its allies Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party have only 31 seats in the 300-member legislature, far from the required majority of at least 151 legislators.
“They [BNP] want to impeach the president for his failure to hold parliamentary election on January 22, 2007. We might want the impeachment for his taking over as the chief adviser in breach of the constitution," AL presidium member Suranjit Sengupta told The Daily Star yesterday.
Contacted via phone, Amir Hossain Amu, another member of AL presidium, said their party has not had any discussions in this regard.
“We might discuss the issue if we receive any such proposal," he added.
Earlier on Sunday the BNP-led opposition lawmakers boycotted lajuddin's address to the inaugural session of ninth parliament.
They accused him of dishonouring the presidential oath to defend the constitution.
Speaking at a discussion yesterday, BNP Secretary General - Khandaker -Delwar Hossain said the president should be impeached for violation of the constitution.
The same day BNP Vice-president and lawmaker MK Anwar said they would support any move to impeach the president.
lajuddin took over as the chief adviser of the caretaker government on October 29, 2007, setting off a huge controversy. But he failed abjectly to discharge duties neutrally, leading to 1 /11.
His bias towards BNP prompted the AL-led grand alliance to boycott the parliamentary election then
scheduled for January 22, 2007.
As things threatened to spiral out of control, lajuddin was forced to step down as the chief adviser on January 11 that year.
He also had to declare a state of emergency and cancel the general election, which was set to be held with the participation of only BNP-led four-party alliance and some minor parties.
Fakhruddin Ahmed replaced lajuddin as the caretaker administration chief, and had a new council of advisers. His two-year rule culminated in a free and fair parliamentary election on December 29 last year.
The BNP-led alliance took an unprecedented thumping in the polls that AL-led grand alliance won by a landslide.
Article 52 of the constitution says, “The President may be impeached on a charge of violating this Constitution or of grave misconduct, preferred by a notice of motion signed by a majority of the total number of members of the Parliament and delivered to the speaker, setting out the particulars of the charges."