BNP to join polls, announcement today

The Bangladesh Nationalist party on Saturday decided to join the 11th parliamentary polls and it would request the election commission to defer elections by a month, according to BNP leaders.

Party policymakers said they have decided to participate in the election following a series of meetings.

BNP standing committee members held a meeting, and the party also held a meeting with its 20-party alliance partners at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office on Saturday. The Jatiya Oikya Front including BNP also held another meeting at the same venue.

After the meeting, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said Gano Forum president and Oikya Front leader Kamal Hossain will announce their decision through a press conference at the National Press Club today, Sunday.

An Oikya Front leader said Kamal is likely to set some conditions, including the deferment of its schedule by one month, reports UNB.

The leader said Kamal may also announce a foot-march programme towards the election commission for 13 November to force it to accept the demand.

Besides, the Oikya Front will send a letter to the EC on Sunday for deferring the election schedule and the alliance leaders seek time to meet the chief election commissioner on Monday.

A top leader of the 20-party alliance said BNP has given its registered alliance partners a green signal to send letters to the election commission on Sunday informing it that they want to join the election in alliance and use BNP's election symbol.

At the BNP's standing committee meeting, Mirza Abbas and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy questioned the justification of the party's decision on joining the election and locked into an altercation with Moudud Ahmed over it at their meeting, party insiders said.
However, other leaders convinced Abbas and Gayeshwar and decided to join the election in alliance.

The party also formed a coordination committee, led by its standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, to settle the seat-sharing issue with its two alliance partners.

However, the party leaders said they may wage a movement by boycotting the polls halfway through if a level-playing field is not ensured.

BNP wants to join the election as it is a pro-election party, UNB quoted Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as saying.

"But our chairperson Khaleda Zia is still in jail. Our leaders and activists are being harassed and arrested even after the announcement of the election schedule as the government is trying to hold another lopsided election."

He said the EC has announced the election schedule unilaterally ignoring political parties' opinions. "A credible election is not possible without a level-playing field. So, we first want to see a proper election atmosphere for a neutral election."

BNP insiders said the party will try to hold an informal meeting with the prime minister to release Khaleda Zia from jail and stop the arrest and harassment of their party leaders and activists.

Besides, they will keep in touch with diplomats to mount pressure on the government to hold an acceptable election.

The party leaders are likely to brief diplomats very soon about the outcome of the talks and the country's latest political situation.

At their meeting, a 20-party leader said all the partners, except BJP, Islami Oikya Jote and Democratic League, gave their positive opinions about joining the election.

The Jamaat representative who was present at the meeting said they want to participate in the election independently, not in alliance.

He, however, took two days to inform the party's final decision in this regard.

After the meeting, Oli Ahmed, president of LDP, one of the components of the 20-party alliance, said, "We discussed the election issue and the country's overall situation. We didn't take the final decision yet whether we'll participate in the election or boycott it.”

“Our alliance's main partner BNP will make the decision public after discussion with Jatiya Oikyafront within a day or two."

Oli said their alliance is now giving its main focus on the release of their leader Khaleda Zia. "She'll have to be freed to ensure an election atmosphere."

Accusing the government of arresting the leaders and activists of the 20-party alliance, he said a level-playing field is yet to be created.

Replying to a question, Oli said the registered political parties under the 20-party will write letters to the election commission on Sunday informing it that they may contest the polls either with their own election symbols or with BNP's if they decide to participate in the election.

After the meeting of the 20-party, top leaders of the Jatiya Oikya Front also sat in a meeting with the BNP senior leaders at the same venue.

However, Oikya Front chief Dr Kamal Hossain could not to go to the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office to join the meeting due to his illness.

BNP insiders said party chairperson Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman also sent out positive messages to join the election in consultation with the two alliance partners.

A BNP standing committee member said they want to take part in the election as part of their movement and stage a revolution on the election day applying their all strength to bringing the results in their favour.

BNP insiders said the party has almost completed its candidate selection process and election manifesto by the time.

The party top leaders in consultation with BNP acting chairman has completed the party selection process, but still it did not finalise the list of seats it will share with its alliance partners.

A BNP standing committee member said some party leaders and pro-BNP intellectuals drafted the party's election manifesto in light of the 'Vision-2030 which was presented by Khaleda Zia on 10 May 2017.

On Thursday evening, chief election commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda in a televised address to the nation announced the schedule for the next general election.

As per the schedule, the 11th parliamentary elections will be held on 23 December while the last date for submitting nomination papers is 19 November, the date for scrutinising nomination papers is 22 November and the last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers is 29 November.