Oikya Front meets legal experts

Polls possible with parliament dissolved

Polls possible with parliament dissolved

Dhaka, Nov 4 (Just News): A group of legal experts on Sunday discussed with Jatiya Oikya Front about how a free, fair and inclusive general election is possible in light with the front’s demands maintaining constitutional bindings.

The legal experts including Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member and lawyer Moudud Ahmed, jurist Shahdeen Malik, Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul and Gono Forum executive president and lawyer Subrata Chowdhury sat in a meeting at Moudud’s office at Motijheel in the evening.

Talking to journalists about the meeting, Shahdeen Malik said the experts sat in the meeting to find out ways how a free, fair and inclusive election can be possible in light with the demands of the Jatiya Oikya Front following the constitutional bindings.

‘The election dissolving the parliament is possible under the constitutional bindings,’ he said citing the opinion of legal experts.

‘There are provisions of dissolving the parliament for at least 10 places in the constitution for holding elections,’ he added.

Shahdeen Malik said keeping parliament intact will not create a level-playing field for both the ruling and opposition parties in the elections.

He also said that the fair election is possible accepting most of the demands of Jatiya Oikya Front if the political parties earnestly want.

The legal experts sat in the meeting at a time when the opposition political alliance is seeking for dialogue again with the prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina for holding free, fair and credible elections in light with their seven-point charter of demands.

Jatiya Oikya Front’s seven-point demands include resignation of the government, formation of a party-neutral government through discussion with all political parties, dissolution of the parliament and reconstitution of the Election Commission before the next general election and release of BNP chairperson and all other political prisoners from jails.

The front on November 1 sat in a dialogue with Sheikh Hasina placing their demands, which yielded no specific solution.

Jatiya Oikya Front top leader Kamal Hosain wrote to Sheikh Hasina on Sunday seeking fresh dialogue with her, as he said, ‘although the talks on November 1 went on for a long time, our discussions were incomplete’.

‘So, we are eager to sit for another dialogue on behalf of Oikya Front to complete the incomplete discussion urgently,’ Kamal said.

‘In this regard, a small-group discussion is essential including experts of both the parties to assess the constitutional and legal aspects of the demands,’ he said

(Justnews/ys/2300hr)