Noman Mosharef :
Jatiya Oikyafront yesterday submitted a list of 90 top officials working in RAB, civil and police administrations and Election Commission (EC) demanding their immediate withdrawal ahead of the 11th Parliamentary election.
A team of the opposition alliance led by BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal placed a letter in this regard to the EC signed by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the party’s Secretary General and spokesperson of Oikyafront on Thursday afternoon.
The alliance also submitted 12 other letters on different issues including violation of electoral code of conduct by the ruling partymen.
The alliance urged the EC not to engage police officials who are the followers of a particular political party in the election duties.
Talking to newsmen, Alal said, “We’ve demanded the withdrawal of over 60 officers of different ranks of police, including DIG, additional DIG and police superintendents, who are busy in creating obstacles towards ensuring a level-playing field.”
He said, they also submitted detailed information to the EC about the police officials who should be pulled out from the electoral responsibilities.
The BNP leader said the Chief Election Commissioner on Thursday called upon the police officials to remain neutral, but the Commission has the authority to give them order.
He claimed that some government and EC officials have been carrying out activities that go against the electoral code of conduct after the announcement of the election schedule. “We’ve presented some documents in this regard and sought preventive measures.”
Moazzem Hossain alleged that some ‘controversial’ officials at National Telecom Monitoring Centre (NTMC) and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had blocked Skype and Internet services around their Chairperson’s Gulshan office as their leader Tarique Rahman was interviewing the party’s nomination seekers, “thought it was not against violation of the election code of conduct.”
He said police kept arresting BNP leaders and activists, including the nomination hopefuls.
Alal said the EC instructed all to remove the election campaign materials, including posters and billboards, but many city areas are still singing with posters of Boat and Plough. “We’ve placed enough documents before the EC in this regard and demanded necessary actions.”
He said different city corporations and other government organisations are still carrying out campaigns in favour of Awami League in the name of development. “We have demanded the commission stop it immediately.
Election Commission has revised polls schedule, deferring the 11th general election by a week to December 30 – a decision taken earlier on November 12.
The authorities have fixed November 28 as the deadline for filing nomination papers, December 2 for scrutiny and December 9 last date of withdrawal.
The move came following demands from several opposition political parties.
