Opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from the parliament Sunday night, alleging denial of their fair share of speaking time and failure to follow parliamentary procedures properly.

They also alleged that they were being prevented from raising points of order.

The walkout came towards the end of the day’s sitting of the budget session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad.

Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker for Pabna-1 Muhammad Nazibur Rahman told New Age that the opposition had no option but to leave the sitting after repeated allegations of breach of parliamentary procedures.

He alleged that his party had not been allocated the 26 per cent of speaking time to which it believed it was entitled under parliamentary arrangements.

Nazibur also questioned the manner in which new bills were being introduced, alleging that proper parliamentary procedures had not been followed.

He said that he had raised the issue in the sitting but got no response from the chair.

The opposition lawmaker alleged that when it was his party’s turn to raise a point of order, they were not allowed to speak.

Instead, he said, BNP secretary general and local government minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was allowed to make a statement as a minister under Rule 300.

‘If we are not allowed to speak, there is no point in remaining in the parliament chamber,’ Nazibur said.

He said the opposition staged the walkout as they were not being given their fair share of speaking time, proper parliamentary procedures were not being followed, and they were being denied the opportunity to raise points of order.