Speaker to ‘mull’ SQ Chy issue

Speaker Abdul Hamid yesterday said he would carefully consider the Election Commission’s letter on the issue of BNP MP Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury’s seat in the House.
“The letter has reached the parliament secretariat, but not to me,” speaker Abdul Hamid told reporters in the afternoon. “I will examine it in due time and give my opinion,” he said.
The EC sent the letter to speaker seeking his opinion regarding the cancellation of Chowdhury’s membership of the House for submitting false information in his nomination papers and defying a court order to rectify it.
Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain said on Tuesday that the EC was of the opinion that the senior BNP leader should be disqualified as MP from Chittagong-2.
Sakhawat referred to section 12 of the Representation of the People Order, which states an MP will lose membership if he provides false information in his affidavit to the EC, amounting to perjury.
The speaker will take necessary steps according to parliamentary laws and the Member of Parliament (determination of dispute) Act 1980 can be followed in this case, said Sakhawat.
He said appropriate steps could be taken by the EC after the speaker’s deceision in the matter.
The EC says Chowdhury provided the EC with false information about his educational qualification. 
 
Courtesy of The Independent