Parliamentary elections cannot be free and fair under the current Election Commission which is talking nonsense after failing to hold the recent mayoral polls in a fair manner, said the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday.
‘This Election Commission has elected many city corporation mayors. The chief election commissioner said ‘I am very satisfied with this election’. How could he be satisfied, while he failed to ensure the safety of a mayoral candidate in Barishal?’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a brief rally in the capital.
The rally was organised by the BNP Dhaka South city unit before starting a road march at Gopibag in protest against ongoing load-shedding.
Citing the Awami League attack on the Islami Andolan Bangladesh mayoral candidate in Monday’s Barishal City Corporation elections, Fakhrul noted that candidate Faizul Karim was beaten and bloodied by AL activists.
‘You [the EC] are so unsuccessful that you couldn’t provide security to a mayoral candidate, even to a respected alem [Islamic scholar]. And you say that the national parliamentary elections will be held in a free and fair manner. What can you do?’ Fakhrul observed.
Regarding the current power crisis in the country, Fakhrul said that there had been load-shedding while the price of electricity was increasing, adding that common people are victims.
‘Today, the only job of this government is to empty people’s pockets. On the market or in the meeting, you see what happened... the pocket is empty. Don’t go to catch pickpockets. It’s time to nab the ‘real pickpocket’. The government is emptying our pockets every day,’ he said.
The rally, presided over by Dhaka South city BNP convenor Abdus Salam, was also addressed by BNP leaders Khairul Kabir Khokon, Mir Sarafat Ali Sapu, Shirin Sultana and Kazi Abul Bashar among others.
