BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has again asked the Election Commission to reschedule the upcoming 11th general election.
He stated this while addressing a press briefing held at BNP’s Naya Paltan headquarters on Tuesday.
Previously, on Monday, the commission deferred the election – originally slated for December 23 – by a week.
“The Election Commission has failed to create an environment for a free and fair election. The Commission has set December 30 as the election date so that foreign observers cannot be present. On December 25, the: foreign observers, ambassadors of different countries, high commissioners and officials will be on holiday—for Christmas and the English New Year. The Commission has announced the election date according to the government's instructions,” Rizvi claimed.
“According to our previous demands, the election must be delayed by one month. The schedule has to be announced again. All political parties have to be given equal opportunities for election campaigning.”
Also Read- CEC: Impossible to reschedule election again
Rizvi also asked the commission to deploy the army during the election which is scheduled to be held on December 30.
He also said they were against the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) as they claimed it would be easy to use them to rig the election.
“The CEC had announced the use of EVMs in limited form—ignoring public opinion. However, two days ago, Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd) Shahadat Hossain announced the use of EVMs for 80-100 seats, which is believed to be a conspiracy. EVMs have been banned in almost all the countries of the world because of vote rigging,” claimed the BNP leader.
Addressing the press conference, Rizvi reiterated BNP’s demand for the immediate release of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia—who has been in jail since February after being convicted in a graft case.
The BNP leader said 50 party leaders and activists have also been arrested since November 11, and he demanded they be released immediately.
Will the election be rescheduled again?
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said there was no possibility of deferring the general election date again.
“There is no possibility of deferring the election schedule after December 30. We have completed all preparations,” he said while briefing returning officers in Dhaka.
