Jatiya Oikya Front leaders will go to the Election Commission demanding to postpone the election from December 30.
They will present their demands at a meeting with the Election Commission on Wednesday. The commission has scheduled the meeting at 3:30pm.
The decision was taken at an Oikya Front meeting on Tuesday morning, Oikya Front representative and Secretary General of BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters after the meeting.
"We will go to the Election Commission with our demand to postpone the general election date tomorrow [Wednesday] at noon," Mirza Fakhrul said.
"On November 16, we will sit at a meeting with editors of print media, and later, we will sit with electronic media representatives to talk about the election."
The Election Commission is not interested in holding a fair election, Fakhrul alleged.
Oikya Front also sent a letter to the Election Commission, regarding this, on Tuesday.
The Commission postponed the election date by seven days at the government's advice, Krishak Sramik Janata League President Abdul Kader Siddique told reporters.
Kader, also an Oikya Front leader, said: "The Commission should not have postponed the election date by a week. They only did this at the behest of the government."
Deeming the delay "unfair", he furthered: "We, and the people of this country, wanted the election to be delayed by a month; however, they only delayed it by a week. This call was made by the government, by Badrudozza Chowdhury."
Mentioning that previously, the Commission used to hold discussions with the political parties before the announcement of every election, Kader said: "But this Election Commission did not do it, which is why I suspect the Commission will not be able to hold the election in a free and fair manner."
He expressed his confidence that the ruling party, Awami League, will not be able to win the next election.
BNP wants election date deferred
BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi again asked the Election Commission to reschedule the election date while addressing a press briefing, held at BNP’s Naya Paltan headquarters, on Tuesday.
He also asked for the army to be deployed during the election and voiced his opposition to using electronic voting machines (EVMs), claiming it would be easier to rig the election with their use.
Rizvi also demanded the immediate release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who has been incarcerated since February—after being convicted in a graft case.
'Impossible to reschedule election again'
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda has said there is no possibility of rescheduling the date of the general election.
“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 on Tuesday.
Previously on Monday, the Commission deferred the election - which was originally supposed to be held on December 23 - by a week.
