Skip to main content

Main Bangladesh Opposition Party Boycotts Election, Poll Body Chief Reacts

Main Bangladesh Opposition Party Boycotts Election, Poll Body Chief Reacts

Bangladesh's opposition party is demanding an interim non-party neutral government to hold polls (File)

Dhaka:

Bangladesh's Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Saturday said that the voting set for Sunday's general election lacked completeness since a major opposition party was not participating but his office has taken all steps to continue the constitutional continuity.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the country's main opposition party led by former prime minister Khalida Zia is boycotting the January 7 election amid violence and has called for a 48-hour nationwide strike against the "illegal government".

The BNP is demanding an interim non-party neutral government to hold the election.

The demand was, however, rejected by the government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the chairman of the ruling Awami League.

"The universality of the election has not reached the expected level," Awal said in a nationwide televised address as the day-long voting for the 12th Jatiya Sangsad starts at 8 am on Sunday.

The election commission chief said disputes over the institutional arrangement frustrated the expected election participation this time but Bangladesh's political leadership must take sincere initiative for a permanent settlement of the disagreements "for future, if not today".

Yet, he said, the election could not be called "non-participatory or uncompetitive" as 28 political parties and 1,971 candidates were contesting in 299 out of 300 parliamentary constituencies.

The BNP has boycotted the polls, saying elections under Prime Minister Hasina's government would not be fair and credible and asked it to quit letting a non-party caretaker government run the elections.

Media tally suggested violence in the run-up to the elections killed at least 15 people in the past three months since October 28, 2023, when trains, buses and trucks were torched in clandestine attacks.

Awal, a former lower judiciary judge who later served as the top law ministry bureaucrat, said the parties which boycotted the polls previously committed just to carry out their campaign peacefully discarding any violent means.

"But acts of sabotage and violence became visible amid announced general strikes and transport blockades. Trains, other transports and election centres have been torched," he said, without naming any party but added that the incidents worried the election commission.

"Yet as part of inviolable constitutional responsibility I am requesting the people to cast your votes defying all your worries, concerns and unease to exercise your franchise," he said.

Awal said over 800,000 law enforcement personnel, including Army troops, were deployed to maintain peace and order while his office simultaneously engaged some 3,000 executive and judicial magistrates to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections.

More than 119 million people are registered as voters but voters appeared to be disinterested in exercising the franchise due to lack of competitiveness. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/E3BT2c9 https://ift.tt/BCVs4FT
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...