BNP sees Dhaka and Naogaon by-polls like 2018 national election

BNP today blamed the government for holding Dhaka-5 and Naogaon-6 by-polls like the national election held on December 30, 2018.

Following the footprint of the national election held in 2018, the pro-government terrorists with the help of law enforcers robbed votes by creating reign of terror during the Dhaka-5 and Naogaon-6 by-polls, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.

They also cast vote for the ruling party nominated candidates by forcibly driving opposition’s polling agents out of the vote centres while the Election Commission played a silent role, Fakhrul said.

“The Election Commission played a hereditary sportsman role in the elections,” Fakhrul was addressing a press conference at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office in Dhaka this noon.

In a formal reaction over the just ended Dhaka and Naogaon by-polls, Fakhrul said returning officers did not pay heed to the allegation of vote irregularities taken place during the by-polls.

“At least, 162 allegations over the election irregularities were given to the commission but the Chief Election Commissioner (KM Nurul Huda) was speaking a lie by saying he is unknown about the allegations,” he said.

The Election Commission is being used as a tool in a planned way of meeting the government’s evil desire to reinstate the one-party rule in the country, he said.

The self-proclaimed government elected without vote has once again betrayed the people through the by-polls to materialise its blueprint of one-party rule in the country, Fakhrul said.

The ruling quarter has established the reign of terror in the country by using the state machineries and indulged in unprecedented corruption and misdeeds, the BNP leader alleged.

BNP announces protest programmes

BNP will stage demonstrations at city and district level headquarters on October 19 and at thana and upazila level headquarters on the next day across the country demanding annulment of the polls results of Dhaka-5 and Naogaon-6 constituencies.

“We are rejecting the polls' results and at the same time, urging the authority to hold fresh elections to Dhaka-5 and Naogaon-6 parliamentary constituencies by revoking the results,” he said.

Syndicate responsible for price hike of essentials

About the skyrocketing price spiral of the daily essentials, Fakhrul said a syndicate comprised of the ruling party men and the government’s mismanagement and corruption are fully responsible for this.

The government has utterly failed in controlling the prices of the daily essentials, the BNP leader said.    

Police’s anti-rape protest an eyewash

Police yesterday held anti-rape protest programmes across the country which is merely eyewash, Fakhrul said adding that incorporating a law with the provision of death sentence is not enough to stop the spate of rape and repression on women and children.

He also criticised the law enforcers and the ruling party activists for carrying out sporadic attack on anti-rape long-march in Feni yesterday.