The BNP has alleged the government is trying to manipulate results of the maiden Gazipur City Corporation polls in favour of the ruling party-backed candidate.
The election is due on July 6.
Its spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir urged the Election Commission to ‘act strongly’ to foil such attempts.
“The government is using the local administration and police to manoeuvre the polls results,” he alleged at a discussion in Dhaka on Friday.
Opposition alliance-backed candidates won in the recently held Rajshahi, Barisal, Sylhet, and Khulna city corporation polls. The government has said it did not try to influence the results.
Fakhrul hoped the government would come to its senses soon.
“As for the EC, we’d like to ask you to take stern measures and stop working as the government’s puppet,” he said.
“Deploy army for the sake of a free and fair election,” the BNP Acting Secretary General added echoing party chief Khaleda Zia.
He repeated his threats to start a movement to bring down the government if it tried to rig votes or manipulate the results.
Mirza Fakhrul claimed the ruling party-backed candidates’ defeats in the city polls were signals for the government to step down.
“We’d like the government to step down reinstating the non-partisan [caretaker government] provision in the Constitution and create a congenial atmosphere for elections,” he said.
Source: Bd news24
