Most of the lawmakers-elect of the Jatiya Party yesterday said the party should join the Awami League-led new government.

The opinion came at a joint meeting of JP presidium members and MPs-elect at the party chief's Banani office, JP Co-chairman GM Quader told reporters after the meeting.

The party's parliamentary body will decide its role in the 11th parliament.

“Our newly elected MPs will join the parliamentary party meeting tomorrow [today] after taking the oath,” Quader added.

Meanwhile, the oath-taking ceremony of MPs-elect will be held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban today, said a parliament secretariat press release yesterday. 

At 11:00am, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will administer the oath.

At the briefing, Quader said, “The parliamentary party meeting will decide what will be the Jatiya Party's role in parliament, considering the interest of the country and the grand alliance."

He added that they would talk about the issue with the alliance after the meeting.

“We are in the grand alliance and contested the election with the alliance partners with identical goals. So, we'll finalise all the decisions through discussions."

The JP co-chairman, who presided over yesterday's meeting, said they discussed the country's political situation at the joint meeting.

Party Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga said they would take some organisational steps to strengthen the party.

He added that parliamentary party members would sit with the AL-led grand alliance to determine the party's role in parliament.

JP Chairman HM Ershad and Senior Co-chairman Raushan Ershad were not present at the meeting.

On Tuesday, Moshiur said they would decide yesterday whether they would remain as the opposition or part of government in the House.

OFFICIAL POLLS RESULTS

In another development, the Election Commission yesterday in its official results said the AL bagged 257 seats and the JP 22 seats in Sunday's national election.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda at a post-election press conference on Monday and EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed at the end of announcement of unofficial results of the polls said the AL won in 259 constituencies and the JP in 20.

EC officials said they made the mistake while preparing the list of all winning candidates hurriedly.

The commission yesterday published a gazette notification of all 298 winning candidates.

According to the official results of the December 30 polls, the AL-led grand alliance bagged 288 seats while the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront got seven.

Voting was suspended at three polling stations in Brahmanbaria-2 over violence. Voting in those centres will be held on January 9.

Election in Gaibandha-3 was rescheduled for January 27 after Oikyafront candidate TIM Fazley Rabbi died on December 20.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and extended his heartfelt congratulations to her on securing her party’s absolute majority in the 11th parliamentary elections.

“The Indian premier called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at about 10:30am and congratulated her, the Awami League and the people of Bangladesh on securing her party’s absolute majority in the national elections held on Sunday,” PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told BSS.

 “The victory of the Awami League in the polls is a reflection of stunning development that Bangladesh attained under your dynamic leadership,” Modi said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee also congratulated Sheikh Hasina on her win in a Twitter post. 

The Indian prime minister assured that his country will continue to support Bangladesh’s development efforts like the past, the press secretary said.

Sheikh Hasina also greeted Narendra Modi and the people of his country. She thanked the Indian premier for making phone and said he is the first head of state or government who congratulated her after her party’s landslide victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections

Hasina is set to become Prime Minister of Bangladesh for a third term. 

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected unofficially from Bogura-6 constituency in the 11th parliamentary elections held on Sunday.

Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed announced the unofficial results of all 141 polling centers of the constituency.

Fakhrul bagged 205987 votes with “sheaf of paddy” symbol while his nearest rival Jatiya Party candidate Nurul Islam Omar got 39,961 votes with “plough” symbol.

But, the BNP secretary general was defeated by AL candidate Ramesh Chandra Sen in Thakurgaon-1 constituency.

Sen bagged 2,25,795 votes with ‘boat’ symbol in all 175 centers while his nearest contestant Fakhrul got 1,27,067 votes with ‘sheaf of paddy’ symbol. Thakurgaon-1 constituency lies in Fakhrul’s home district.

Jatiya Oikyafront will brief media this evening on overall situation of today’s general election.

The press conference will be held at his Paltan office after 8:00pm today, the party sources said.

Earlier at a press briefing around 2:30pm, Oikyafront convener Dr Kamal Hossain said he was concerned over the election atmosphere.

The voting in the 11th parliamentary election ended in all the 300 constituencies across the country at 4:00pm.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said this election has become a mockery.

The BNP leader made the comments to The Daily Star at the Syedpur Airport in Nilphamari when he was returning to Dhaka from Thakurgaon after voting ended today at 4:00pm.

Ruling party men and police worked hand in hand during this election, Fakhrul said.

“This is the death of democracy,” he further added.