The main opposition BNP on Thursday informed the Election Commission that it will not participate in any dialogue to be arranged by the incumbent commission.
BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi went to the commission office in the afternoon and conveyed the party’s decision in a letter.
Later, talking to reporters, Rizvi said he handed over the copies of a letter of BNP acting secretary general to the chief election commissioner and the commission’s secretary explaining the reasons why they cannot join the talks.
The EC began electoral talks with political parties on November 26. The commission has already held dialogue with some political parties, but the alliance partners of the main opposition skipped the talks.
The commission was scheduled to meet BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and some other parties on December 2 (Sunday). But three days ahead of the schedule, the party cleared its position about the talks with the EC in the letter.
The party, since formation of the commission, has been claiming that it was constituted illegally. BNP has also been boycotting elections under the current commission.
Earlier on Wednesday, the EC rescheduled its Thursday’s dialogue with the Awami League for December 5 following the request of the ruling party as it coincided with concluding session of the 15th session of the ninth parliament.
Source: The Daily Star
