বুধবার, ২২ জুলাই ২০২৬, ১০:৩৩ অপরাহ্ন
Satkhira-4 lawmaker Gazi Md Nazrul Islam is set to lose his parliamentary seat after Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami expelled him from the party on Wednesday over what an internal investigation found to be “moral misconduct.”
The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the party’s Central Executive Council held on Wednesday afternoon at the official Dhaka residence of Opposition Leader and Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman.
In a statement signed by Jamaat Assistant Secretary General and Central Publicity and Media Secretary Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, the party said it had launched an organisational investigation following media reports and the circulation of videos involving the MP in recent days.
The inquiry concluded that allegations of “moral misconduct” had been substantiated.
Based on the findings, the Executive Council decided to expel Gazi Nazrul under Article 62 of the party’s constitution. It also resolved to immediately notify the Bangladesh Election Commission of the decision.
Legal experts said the expulsion effectively ends Nazrul’s tenure as a lawmaker.
Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Article 70 of Bangladesh’s Constitution provides that a lawmaker elected on the nomination of a political party loses their parliamentary membership if they cease to belong to that party.
“Under Article 70 of the Constitution, once a member is expelled from the party that nominated them, their parliamentary seat also becomes vacant,” Khokon said. He cited the case of former BNP lawmaker Major Akhtaruzzaman, whose parliamentary membership was cancelled after his expulsion from the party.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Shishir Monir echoed the view, telling Daily Waadaa that Clause (a) of Article 70 stipulates that an MP forfeits their seat upon resignation from, or expulsion by, the political party under whose nomination they were elected.
The controversy erupted after several videos involving Nazrul and a young woman began circulating on social media from Monday night. One clip appeared to show the MP and the woman in an intimate setting inside a room.
Another video later surfaced showing several people confronting Nazrul while the woman was also present. The individuals questioned him about repeated visits to the location, saying they had been observing him for several days. In the footage, Nazrul is heard pleading, “Please let us go… We have done wrong.”
On Tuesday, as the videos spread widely online and triggered intense public debate, Jamaat said it was examining the matter and would take appropriate action after verifying the facts.
Before his expulsion, Nazrul denied allegations of an extramarital relationship, claiming the woman seen in the videos was his second wife, Morium Khatun.
He said that on July 13 he had visited a business establishment in Dhaka’s Moghbazar owned by Morium’s father, Masum Billah, and was accompanied by both his first wife, Maksuda Islam, and Morium.
