After the ruling Awami League, Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad on Saturday pushed for holding upazila elections under political banners as the present non-partisan system cannot help properly assess the popularity of a political party at the grassroots level.
“Upazila elections should be held on political party basis for determining the popularity of political parties at grassroots level,” Ershad, also a special envoy to the Prime Minister, came up with the view while addressing a joining programme held at its Banani office in the city.
Underpinning his view, the former military dictator said that allegations have been made over the credibility of the ongoing staggered upazila polls. “The polls didn’t take place in a free and fair manner,” he claimed.
“Today, I won’t talk about in details about it, but it’s not possible to test the popularity of a political party through the existing upazila election system,” said Ershad.
He went on saying, “Prime Minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy has already spoken in favour of it. I do agree with his stance.”
On March 17, Sajeeb Wazed Joy said elections to all the local bodies should be held on partisan basis like that of parliament. “No non-partisan election is held in the US, neither in Europe, Canada and India. We should repeal the law formulated by the dictators and all the polls should be held under political banners.”
The Jatiya Party chief admitted that his party has failed to fare well in the ongoing upazila parishad polls due to some problems within the party. “But, our party has started journey afresh,” he added.
Ershad urged his party leaders and workers to prepare themselves for the next parliamentary elections putting behind frustration.
Source: UNBConnect
