Six MPs skip presidential election, including 3 BNP lawmakers

Six members of parliament did not cast their ballots in today's (20 August) presidential election, including three BNP lawmakers, one Khelafat Majlis MP, an independent MP and Gazi Nazrul Islam, the expelled Jamaat-e-Islami member elected from Satkhira-4.

The presidential election saw BNP candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir elected the country's 23rd president with 255 votes, while Jamaat-led 11-party alliance candidate Col (retd) Oli Ahmad received 88. Of the 349 eligible MPs, 343 cast valid ballots.

The three BNP lawmakers who did not vote were Mirza Abbas, Osman Faruk and Mustafa Kamal Pasha.

According to parliamentary secretariat sources, Mirza Abbas, the MP from Dhaka-8 and a BNP Standing Committee member, had informed the speaker in writing that he would be unable to vote as he was abroad for medical treatment.

Mustafa Kamal Pasha was also unable to attend the election as he is sick and currently abroad.

The other three absentees were Gazi Nazrul Islam of Satkhira-4, Khelafat Majlis MP Abul Hasan of Sylhet-5, and independent MP Rumeen Farhana of Brahmanbaria-2.

Gazi Nazrul Islam was expelled from Jamaat after a controversial video involving him surfaced on social media.

Khelafat Majlis Secretary General Ahmad Abdul Quader said Abul Hasan is currently abroad.

Explaining her decision to abstain, Rumeen Farhana told Prothom Alo that she considered the presidential election "meaningless" and "a farce" because its outcome was never in doubt.

"When there is no uncertainty about the outcome, it is not an election. It is a nomination," she said.

The reason why Osman Faruk did not vote was not immediately known.