Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad on Saturday said his party will not participate in any ‘stage-managed’ general election unless the Election Commission is neutralised and strengthened.
“The present Election Commission has become controversial and worthless. No party will dare to take part in the election under this commission. So it must be made neutral and strengthened to gain people’s trust,” he said.
The JP chief was addressing an iftar party hosted by the city unit of his party at the local press club.
Observing that the country’s people want a change, Ershad said Jatiya Party has completed its all preparations to take part in the next general election independently.
He, however, said they would not take part in the election unless the EC is made strengthened and neutral.
Pointing out that country’s democracy is now at stake, the former president said there is an apprehension for political conflict in the country. “There’s a fear in people’s mind whether any election will be held in the country as they do not understand to which direction the country is heading.”
He said the government has squandered the opportunity of a free, fair and neutral election through excluding the Article 91(E) from the Representation of the People Order (RPO). “For this, there might be conflict and violence over the election.”
Portraying the ‘misrule’ of the present government, Ershad said, “Hardy a day passes when people aren’t killed. People are being killed in police firing… they’re being killed in intra-party conflicts. There’s no security of the common man.”
JP leaders Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Kazi Firoz Rashid, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, Kalyan Party president Maj Gen (retd) Syed Ibrahim and city BNP general secretary Dr Shahadat Hossain, among others, addressed the iftar party held with city JP president Solaiman Alam Sheth in the chair.
Source: UNBConnect
