AL spending public money on polls campaign: BNP

BNP on Wednesday alleged that Awami League has been carrying out campaigns to woo voters through advertisements on different television channels with taxpayers’ money violating the electoral code of conduct, reports UNB.

“Turning on TVs, we find an advertisement of ‘Thank You PM’, and it continues for a while. In some cases, it’s not clear who provided the ad, while in other cases it gets clear after a while that ministries are the advertisers,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

Speaking at a press briefing at BNP’s Naya Paltan central office, he questioned the election commission: Is it not the violation of the election code of conduct to air such advertisements after the announcement of the election schedule?

“Why such publicity is being carried out with public money ahead of the election? This is being done at taxpayers’ money. This is a clear violation of the electoral code of conduct,” the BNP leader added.

He also alleged that the election commission is giving a blind eye to the violation of the electoral code of conduct by the ruling party men.

Rizvi urged Awami League to stop carrying out its campaign through advertisements by wasting public money.

He called upon the election commission to ensure equal opportunities for all the political parties in the mass media.

The BNP leader alleged that the election commission wants to control the mass media as it has imposed a restriction on live telecast by TV channels from polling stations during the forthcoming national election.