People’s no confidence in govt: BNP The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has claimed that results of elections to the four city corporations sent out a signal that there was no alternative to holding the next general elections under a non-party, neutral government. People have shown ‘no confidence” in the government in the city corporation elections and the government should now resign, the acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said this at a news conference at the party’s centrall office on Sunday. Mayoral candidates backed by the BNP-led alliance won all the four city corporation elections in Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal on Saturday defeating candidates backed by the ruling Awami League-led alliance by big margins. Fakhrul said that the victory of the candidates backed by the BNP-led alliance had opened up a new chapter in politics in Bangladesh. He said that people had vented their anger against the government by not voting for candidates backed by the ruling alliance although voters had been intimidated and money was used to influence polling. Fakhrul said that the win of candidates of their choice meant support for their movement for the reinstatement of an election-time non-party government. He said that most of the candidates backed by the opposition alliance had also been elected the the positions of councillors in the city polls. He said that if the government was democratic, it should resign. Fakhrul said that the BNP hoped that the government, after the people’s verdict, would agree to the demand for the reinstatement of an election-time non-party government in the constitution. On behalf of the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, Fakhrul thanked people and voters for electing the candidates backed by the alliance. Asked about the Awami League’s claim that the next general elections under it would be neutral, Fakhrul said that people had supported the opposition demand for an election-time government through the city polls. Asked about taking part in the next general elections under the incumbent Election Commission, he said that the BNP did not agree to process of the formation of the incumbent commission. Fakhrul said that the commission had a weakness for the government as it did not deploy army in the city polls despite repeated requests. He said that if army had been deployed, Islamic Constitution Movement activist Shah Alam Sardar would not have been ‘beaten to death by the Rapid Action Battalion’ in Khulna on the polling day. In reply to a question, he said that local government and the national elections were not the same. The government is formed through general elections, he said. Asked about the BNP’s comment on the city polls and the ruling party’s acceptance of the results, he said that he BNP also had and responsible role in holding the city polls in a fair manner. He said that the ruling party had no option but to accept the polls results. As for the BNP’s allegation that the government had set the results earlier in favour the ruling party-backed candidates in the city polls, he said that who said what was not important now and what was more important was that candidates backed by the opposition alliance had won by big margins. BNP leaders Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Abdus Salam, Khairul Kabir Khokan, Shirin Sultana, Abdus Salam Azad and Rafiq Sikder, among others, attended the news conference.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:27:20 +0000