The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party alleged on Monday that the government, as well as the ruling Awami League, was threatening people to go to the polling station on January 7 to cast their votes in the one-sided election.
‘To increase voter turnout in the election, many people are being intimidated to go to polling stations,’ BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said at a virtual press conference.
The BNP leader said that the government had turned the whole country into a prison.
‘Those who are thrown inside the jail are being tortured and killed,’ he said.
He said that AL candidates were threatening voters that they would be evicted if they did not go to the polling station, and the election commissioners were threatening voters with jail and fines.
He said that election commissioner Anisur Rahman’s threat seemed to be forgetting his existence and enslaving the Awami League service. He is announcing orders from the Ganabhaban, the official residence of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, every day.
‘They are threatening to discipline BNP. They should know that voting is a human right, and not voting is also a fundamental human right. No one can be forced to vote. But citizens are threatened with death if they do not go to vote,’ he said.
‘Let’s say to Awami slaves like Anisur that it is the constitutional right of every citizen to say no to an illegal election. Who are you to interrupt? Don’t you know how big a crime it is to forcibly take voters to the centre? What have you done when people could not vote for the past 15 years?’ Rizvi said.
He said that the AL leaders, ministers, and city councillors threatened the people with cancelling their TCB family card and other allowances under the social safety net programme if they did not appear at the polling stations.
The BNP and other opposition parties on Monday distributed leaflets among the people to motivate them not to go to the polling centres on January 7 as the parties, who were boycotting the polls, were holding street agitations demanding the resignation of the AL handing over the power to a party-neutral election-time administration.
