The BNP, if invited, will not join the dialogue with President Abdul Hamid over forming the new Election Commission.
Party leaders say they made the decision as they believe the talks will not yield any fruit.
Upon the invitation of the president, the party may send a letter to him detailing why it will not join the talks and the overall political situation in the country. The BNP will also ask Hamid to take initiatives to form a polls-time interim government to oversee the next general election, said party sources.
Speaking to The Daily Star yesterday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fahkrul Islam Alamgir said, “We will not join the talks. Joining will mean nothing. We held talks twice earlier but we found those to be pointless.”
The BNP standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the party, in a meeting on Monday unanimously decided that the party would not join the dialogue as it sees the initiative as “an attempt to snatch the people’s voting rights”.
BNP leaders said the president can hold talks but he cannot do anything without consultation with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and that’s why participating in talks is nothing but “giving legitimacy to the process of forming the next EC”.
“The entire electoral system has been destroyed. In our political culture, a free and fair election is not possible under a partisan government. So, dialogues should be held on formation of a polls-time government,” Fakhrul said.
The president on December 20 opened the talks with the registered political parties. The Jatiya Party, the main opposition in parliament, was the first party to join the dialogue.
Hamid has so far invited 14 parties to the dialogue.
A total of 39 political parties are registered with the EC and only nine of them have representation in the current parliament.
The tenure of the incumbent EC will expire on February 14 next year. According to the constitution, the new EC must be formed before the current one expires.
Asked why the party decided against joining the talks, BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said, “You will get the answer if you ask anyone on the street. The whole exercise of holding talks is a project of the government to snatch people’s voting rights. Any democratic party fully aware of the government’s intention cannot join the talks.”
In 2017, President Hamid held talks with 31 political parties before forming a search committee, headed by Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, on January 25 that year.
The committee had asked the 31 political parties to recommend five names each for the posts of CEC and commissioners. The panel then shortlisted 20 names from 128 suggested by 26 political parties. Hamid then appointed KM Nurul Huda as chief election commissioner and four other commissioners.
In 2012, then president Zillur Rahman held talks with 23 political parties. Five of them had proposed forming a search committee, while four suggested enacting a law that could be followed for such appointments.
Zillur later appointed a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court as the head of a four-member search committee to recommend names for the posts of CEC and commissioners.
That committee shortlisted 10 individuals. Later, Zillur picked five and formed the EC, led by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, on February 9, 2012.
