Kader Siddique demands CEC Huda’s resignation
Krishak Sramik Janata League president Abdul Kader Siddique on Monday castigated chief election commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda for his comments lauding the BNP and its founder Ziaur Rahman.
Siddique, a veteran freedom fighter who left the country after the 1975 coup and returned home in 1991, demanded resignation of Huda as CEC for the remarks.
CEC Huda, during the election commission's dialogue with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Sunday, mentioned Ziaur Rahman as the one who restored multi-party democracy.
Kader Siddique gave his reaction to Huda's comments while talking to newsmen after his party’s meeting with the election commission at the commission secretariat in Agargaon of the capital.
"The CEC yesterday [Sunday] said Ziau Rahman restored multi-party democracy. If Zia did so, then it suggests that someone had to kill it. The CEC cannot say so," said Kader Siddique.
Siddique felt that the CEC is not in a position to say this and he did not consult with other commissioners before saying this.
A one-party BKSAL system was introduced through the 4th amendment in 1975 and the country had formally gone back to multi-party system through the 5th amendment.
Neither the CEC nor Kader Siddique made specific reference to the one-party system.
Siddique claimed that his party boycotted the dialogue in protest against the CEC's remarks glorifying Zia.
However, his party delegation had two and a half hours of talks with the election commission.
In response to Siddique's query, he claimed, the CEC said he lauded the BNP taking notes of the party's laudable steps from its website.
At the dialogue, Kader Siddique's party placed an 18-point charter of demands including general elections under a neutral government, dissolution of Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) before the polls and deployment of the army.
These are also the demands of the BNP which placed a 20-point charter of demands.