The BNP says it has not given up on getting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s response to their call to hold talks about the Election Commission (EC) and the polls.
The party hopes the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will listen to the opposition at some point by following in her father’s footsteps.
Amidst political discussions on the constitution of the next EC, the prime minister on Sunday afternoon briefed the media at the Ganabhaban on her recent visit to Canada and the US.
The BNP, however, earlier in the day had expressed hope that Hasina would respond to their call for a dialogue on constituting the EC, but she rejected the proposal like she had done in the past.
At the press conference, she also referred to and criticised the controversial EC led by MA Aziz that was formed during the BNP’s regime.
Reacting to her refusal, the party’s Vice-Chairman Shahsuzzaman Dudu in the evening told a media call at the BNP’s Naya Paltan Headquarters, “We haven’t lost hope.”
“We’ll continue hoping that she will have a discussion. Because her father, even though he was the leader of the biggest political party, had tried to resolve the situation through discussions with the Pakistanis again and again. Though that did not happen.”
“I would like to remind the current prime minister about that national leader of ours. The table of discussion is the best place to find solutions.
“The prime minister has rejected it right away, but I’m hopeful that she will respond to our call if she thinks about it with a cool head,” Dudu said.
Since its boycott of the 10th parliamentary election, the BNP has been demanding new polls under an ‘impartial’ administration. But the government has not responded to its call.
The BNP is now urging the Hasina administration to sit with it and discuss the composition of the new EC.
Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) recently held the absence of any law in line with the Constitution responsible for repeated complexities in the appointment of the election commissioners.
It also demanded the passage of a law immediately to appoint the commissioners amid the growing debate over the issue.
The current Election Commission’s tenure ends in February next year.
source: bdnews24
