Pressure mounts on government to arrange National Parliament Elections hastily for various reasons including dissatisfactory law and order situation, price hike, recession in investment, unrest in administration, and conspiracies of defeated power.
Political parties said that if the government delays elections, it will be controversial and the problem will further increase. Therefore, they demanded announcement of a precise roadmap for the upcoming election, and warned of movements if their demand is not fulfilled.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said: “Holding the national elections by July-August is feasible.”
“There is no alternative to an elected government and this is essential for democracy.” He called the government, election commission and other political parties to make arrangement for holding elections in the middle of the year.
“The interim government failed to meet the people’s desire,” said LDP President Col (retd) Oli Ahmed Bir Bikram, adding that now they want free fair and acceptable elections. He also warns of movements if the government is not making arrangements for national parliament elections
Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant General Secretary AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad said that they are yet to fix a timeframe for the election. “We are observing the circumstances ahead of election,” he said, adding: “The government says that it is working on election and reforms simultaneously.”
When the government make official announcement of reforms, then they will start fixing a timeframe for the upcoming national election through a forum discussion.
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish Secretary General Maulana Jalaluddin Ahmed demanded for election as early as possible with necessary reforms is done.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, the interim government led by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus took over the power.
The new government formed 11 commissions aiming at reforms across sectors. Six reform commissions that were formed in the first phase are scheduled to submit their reports on January. The Electoral, Police, ACC, Public Administration and Constitutional reform commissions are scheduled to submit their reports by January 15. The Judiciary Reform Commission is scheduled to submit its reports by January 31.
BNP traces that the “associates” of AL government are behind accidents and conspiracies. The party members believe that the more you delay elections, the more problem will rise.
Political parties have been demanding reform initiatives and election arrangements simultaneously. Although the interim government has said that reforms and elections should go hand in hand, political parties are keeping an eye on the election so that it is not “delayed”.
In this situation, the Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus has given two possible deadlines for the national elections. He also said that another round of dialogue with political parties will be held after receiving the report of the reform commission.
The government is saying that if the political parties do not want major reforms, the election will be held by the end of this year, and if the reforms are completed, in the first half of next year.
BNP and Jamaat from the beginning promised of giving “rational” time for reforms. But, recently they are pressurizing for elections.
BNP members, who are outside the power from 2007, said that they are not against reforms. They also placed a 31-point for reform recommendation, and demanded for elections with “necessary” reforms done.
Now, not only BNP, but also other political parties are demanding for elections.
Jatiya Party (Zafar) Chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider also demanded for the election roadmap and said: “Elections must be held by December and power must be returned to the people.”
BNP allay, NPP Chairman Dr AZM Fariduzzaman Farhad said: “The current government is unable to control various issues including commodity prices and law and order.”
He highlighted that the government is unable to handle everything now and downtrend in the government’s popularity. He said: “The government should hand over power to the elected representatives of the people through national elections soon after completing the necessary reforms.”
Translated by Afsar Munna
