Dhaka: BNP on Saturday night expelled its MP Zahidur Rahman Zahid of (Thakurgaon-3) from the party for taking took oath as a member of the 11th Parliament violating its decision.

Party standing committee took the punitive action against Zahid at an emergency meeting, said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, reports the UNB.

‘Our party’s decision was against taking oath as MPs of parliament. As Zahidur Rahman Zahid breached the party decision, he was expelled from BNP. His primary membership was also cancelled. The decision was taken at our today’s meeting,’  he said.

Earlier, members of the BNP standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the party, sat in an emergency meeting at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office to discuss the evolving situation following the oath-taking by Zahid.

Apart from Fakhrul, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sircar, Mahbubur Rahman, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury were present at the meeting.

Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman joined the meeting from London through Skype.

The meeting expressed deep shock over the death of senior journalist Mahfuz Ullah who died at a hospital in Thailand this morning at the age of 69.

BNP MP-elect Zahidur Rahman Zahid of was sworn in on Thursday.

With Zahidur’s oath taking, 295 MPs-elect out of 300 in the 11th parliamentary polls have so far been sworn in.

Now only five BNP MPs-elect, including Fakhrul, are left to take oath. As per the constitution, they must be sworn in by April 29 if they want to remain members of the current parliament.