Staff Reporter :
The BNP, which boycotted midway through the April 28 Dhaka and Chittagong city polls, decided not to boycott the December 30 municipal polls.
The decision was taken at the party’s standing committee meeting held in the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office on Thursday night with Begum Khaleda Zia in the chair.
A BNP standing committee member said that they had suggested their chief to stay in the race until the end under any circumstance. Khaleda Zia agreed and gave instructions in this regard, he added.
The BNP also decided to form a monitoring cell and seven other divisional committees to supervise the polls and carry out campaign. After the meeting, BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir briefed reporters about its outcome and informed the decision of forming committees.
According to him, the party will also ask its district and upazila-level leaders and workers to carry out election campaign for the BNP nominated mayor candidates, facing all the obstacles.
The standing committee members in the meeting apprehended doubts about free and fair election. They called upon the Election Commission (EC) and law enforcers to play neutral role in the interest of a credible election.
The BNP’s policymakers denounced the EC’s decision of making the DCs, ADCs and UNOs as returning officers in some municipalities. “The people have apprehension that the government officials had been made returning officers purposely. The fear was proved correct during the scrutiny of the nomination papers.”
They also voiced deep concern over the mass arrest of opposition leaders and activists. “Over 5,000 opposition leaders and activists were arrested in last one month. The mass arrest continues. It must be stopped. Otherwise, there will be no level-playing field.”
Mirza Fakhrul said that the standing committee meeting demanded immediate release of the leaders and activists.
Meanwhile, BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed in a press briefing at Nayapaltan office on Friday alleged that the government was creating panic by arresting the BNP men ahead of the polls.
He said that mass arrest of the opposition leaders and activists and violation of the electoral code of conduct by ministers and MPs are vitiating the polls environment.
He also alleged that the EC had been playing subservient role as it did in the past. “A move is on to implement a plan of manipulating the municipal polls. Though the EC has knowledge about the plan, it is playing a puppet role. The BNP nominated mayor candidates and their supporters are being deliberately harassed, but the EC is quiet,” Rizvi said.
He said that the government has hatched a mega plan to banish BNP politics from the country. Rizvi also said that it wouldn’t take much time to offer a Janaza for the moribund democracy if the EC continues its puppet role.
The BNP, which boycotted midway through the April 28 Dhaka and Chittagong city polls, decided not to boycott the December 30 municipal polls.
The decision was taken at the party’s standing committee meeting held in the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office on Thursday night with Begum Khaleda Zia in the chair.
A BNP standing committee member said that they had suggested their chief to stay in the race until the end under any circumstance. Khaleda Zia agreed and gave instructions in this regard, he added.
The BNP also decided to form a monitoring cell and seven other divisional committees to supervise the polls and carry out campaign. After the meeting, BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir briefed reporters about its outcome and informed the decision of forming committees.
According to him, the party will also ask its district and upazila-level leaders and workers to carry out election campaign for the BNP nominated mayor candidates, facing all the obstacles.
The standing committee members in the meeting apprehended doubts about free and fair election. They called upon the Election Commission (EC) and law enforcers to play neutral role in the interest of a credible election.
The BNP’s policymakers denounced the EC’s decision of making the DCs, ADCs and UNOs as returning officers in some municipalities. “The people have apprehension that the government officials had been made returning officers purposely. The fear was proved correct during the scrutiny of the nomination papers.”
They also voiced deep concern over the mass arrest of opposition leaders and activists. “Over 5,000 opposition leaders and activists were arrested in last one month. The mass arrest continues. It must be stopped. Otherwise, there will be no level-playing field.”
Mirza Fakhrul said that the standing committee meeting demanded immediate release of the leaders and activists.
Meanwhile, BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed in a press briefing at Nayapaltan office on Friday alleged that the government was creating panic by arresting the BNP men ahead of the polls.
He said that mass arrest of the opposition leaders and activists and violation of the electoral code of conduct by ministers and MPs are vitiating the polls environment.
He also alleged that the EC had been playing subservient role as it did in the past. “A move is on to implement a plan of manipulating the municipal polls. Though the EC has knowledge about the plan, it is playing a puppet role. The BNP nominated mayor candidates and their supporters are being deliberately harassed, but the EC is quiet,” Rizvi said.
He said that the government has hatched a mega plan to banish BNP politics from the country. Rizvi also said that it wouldn’t take much time to offer a Janaza for the moribund democracy if the EC continues its puppet role.
