The BNP has said the demand for a caretaker administration to oversee the national polls cannot be wished away by saying that the city corporation elections have been fair under a party-led government.
BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said this at an ‘iftar’ party in the city on Friday.
He said: “The government had tried a lot to swing the five city corporation poll results in their favour. But they failed amid a united people’s resistance.”
“Now the government is citing the examples of those polls to argue that the (national) elections would be fair even if held under them citing the examples of those polls,” he added.
Fakhrul said there was no alternative to holding the national elections under a caretaker government for reinforcing democracy.
Khalafat Majlish, a component of the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance, hosted the iftar party.
The BNP leader said: “This (caretaker government) system was added to the Constitution because of disbelief and distrust among the political parties. It was an unsolved issue in the country. But the government removed it (caretaker government provision) from the Constitution in a planned way to come to power again.”
Claiming that 95 percent of Bangladeshis want national elections under a non-party administration, he said: “It has been made clear in a media survey.”
Referring to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s statement that elections would be held in the same way as in other democratic countries, the BNP leader asked her: “Can you maintain a democratic environment in the country?”
The Prime Minister while meeting British MPs in London said: “Election in Bangladesh will be held in the same way it is held in your country.”
Fakhrul said: “The government of the country where you made the statement doesn’t file false cases against the opposition leader and sue top leaders of the opposition party over the torching garbage-carrying vehicles.”
“There was no instance of forced disappearance of leaders like Ilias Ali and Chowdhury Alam (in that country), he added.
Source: Bd news24