The cancellation of the Gaibandha-5 by-polls proves that the BNP is correct in its stance that no fair election can take place under a partisan government, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said.
Fakhrul was talking to journalists at a views-exchange meeting in Thakurgaon on Thursday.
Despite using its full capacity, the Election Commission was helpless when holding an election to just one constituency and had to cancel voting, the BNP leader said.
The commission on Wednesday suspended the by-election over widespread allegations of vote rigging and voter intimidation. Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal told journalists that voting at 51 polling centres had been postponed in phases and by 12:30pm it had been evident that massive irregularities had taken place.
Referring to the CEC’s statement, Fakhrul said: “The extent of the fairness of the election is not our headache. What we have been saying over and over again has been proven true.”
He said his party’s main concern was to oust a government that had usurped power and embarrassed the entire nation and to have a non-partisan caretaker government in place.
Fakhrul said the BNP had initiated the third phase of its anti-government movement and Chittagong had just been the beginning of it.
The party held an anti-government rally in the port city on Wednesday as part of the BNP’s series of protests.
The rally began at the city's historic Polo Ground amid heavy presence of police and other security personnel.
Wednesday's rally was the first by the BNP at the divisional level. Similar rallies have been planned in other divisional headquarters to drum up support for the party in the run-up to the next election expected to be held late next year or in early 2024.
The BNP will conclude the divisional rallies through a mass gathering in Dhaka on December 10.
Referring to the December 10 rally, Fakhrul said he hoped that Dhaka would turn out to be a greater success and said: “This is how the government will be toppled”.
On a different note, Fakhrul said that the prime minister should resign immediately if she was so sure about a famine in the coming days.
