Online Desk:

The third session of the 13th Parliament has been called on Aug 27, ahead of the presidential election.

The session will begin at 3pm on Thursday at the chamber of the parliament building in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

Acting President Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikrom has called the session under the powers granted under Article 72, Clause 1 of the Constitution.

A notification in this regard was issued by the Legislative Support Wing of the Parliament Secretariat’s Legislative Branch-1 on Tuesday.

The new presidential election will be held during the session. The ruling BNP’s candidate for the presidential election will be announced on Aug 13.

Speaking at a press conference on the matter, BNP Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni said: “The prime minister will make the announcement and then we will all know together. We will all know the day the nomination papers are to be submitted, the time of submission, everything.”

He said the party has given the responsibility of finalising its candidate to the prime minister.

The parliamentary Opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami has also fielded a candidate in this election.

The votes cast by the acting president, leader of the house, leader of the Opposition and the acting speaker in the presidential election will be broadcast live.

There will also be an opportunity to broadcast live from the counting to the declaration of the results after the vote is over.

Highlighting the opposition party’s position in the election, Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam said: “Democracy requires a participatory election and we also want to inform our countrymen of our political position. We think that our candidate will be the most acceptable as the guardian of Bangladesh at this moment.”

He also commented that the presidential election should have been held according to the July National Charter.

“Since the referendum verdict was in favour of reform, Article 70 could have been amended and the president could have been elected. Then the elected president would have been more respected and acceptable,” Nahid said.

“Even then, since the election is being held, we do not want to let it pass without a contest. That is why we have fielded a candidate from the opposition party.”

He added that if the July Charter is implemented, members of parliament will have the opportunity to vote in the presidential election by secret ballot.

In response, BNP Chief Whip Nurul claimed that, according to the July Charter, the existing Article 70 of the Constitution will also be applicable to the presidential election.

According to his explanation, the July Charter is supposed to give members of parliament the opportunity to freely express their opinions on issues other than money bills and confidence votes.

Along with this, the BNP had proposed to amend the Constitution and add issues related to national security or war situations. However, no mention is made of presidential elections.

Nurul said, “We have unanimously decided today to hold a presidential election to continue the democratic process and the democratic journey and to give an institutional form to the implementation of democracy.

“We want to go through such a process and do so transparently, so that the people of this country will be election-oriented in the future.”