Jatiya Party (Ershad) on Sunday demanded the Election Commission extend at least by 10 days the time for submission of nomination papers for the January 5 parliamentary polls.
Jatiya Party, also a key partner of the election-time cabinet, also demanded massive reshuffle in the grassroots administration to create a level-playing field to fairly run the national election.
A 12-member JP delegation, led by its presidium member and also convener of the party’s election conducting committee, went to the EC secretariat and placed a six-point demand to Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad.
The JP’s four other demands are immediate deployment of the army with magistracy power, ensuring security to all candidates, making arrangement for airing the party chairman’s 45-minute speech through the state-run radio and television and overlooking minor errors in nomination papers during scrutiny.
As per the election schedule declared by the Election Commission on November 25, the deadline for submission of nomination papers expire tomorrow (Monday).
After the meeting, member secretary of JP election conducting committee SM Foysal Hossain Chishti told reporters, “We’ve requested the CEC to extend the deadline for submission of nomination papers by at least 10 days as it deems unrealistic.”
He said they demanded transfer of all incumbent Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, Upazila Nirbahi Officers and officers-in-charge of the police stations before the election to make a level-playing field for all candidates.
Source: UNBConnect
