CEC and commissioners are being called thieves: Mirza Fakhrul

Mirza Fakhrul speaking to newsmen at his Kalibari residence in Thakurgaon town on Saturday afternoon.Prothom Alo

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that no one is interested in elections now. People have no respect for the election commission and do not have confidence in it. It is publicly being said that they are thieves, but this shameless election commission, instead of resigning, tries to defend themselves. This is most scandalous.

Mirza Fakhrul was speaking to newsmen at his Kalibari residence in Thakurgaon town on Saturday afternoon.

He said that the chief election commissioner and his commissioners were being called thieves. They were pilfering funds in the name of making speeches and travelling in cars.

When asked why BNP joined elections even after all of this, Mirza Fakhrul replied, “We are taking part in the elections to uphold the continuity of democracy. We have a strategy. We take decisions in keeping with our strategy. That is why we are joining the elections now. This gives us a chance to get close to the people. We are not given that chance in other times.”

Referring to the election of 2018, Mirza Fakhrul said, “We are observing 30 December as democracy killing day. The people of the country and all over the world are aware that the election of 30 December 2018 was over the night before, on 29 December. Awami League used the entire state machinery to steal the votes. They deprived the people of voting. And now they are proceeding towards their aim of establishing a one-party rule.”

About the coronavirus vaccine, Mirza Fakhrul said the government is involved in corruption in every area. They cannot resist this even in the case of the corona vaccine. At the outset of the coronavirus outbreak, the health department was used for corruption. The agreement for corona tests with Regent Hospital was signed in front of the minister and secretary. The owner of Regent is being punished, but the minister and the secretary are not being held accountable for that agreement. Actually this is only natural in a country where there is no accountability in the government, no one can be questioned about corruption in the parliament.

Fakhrul Islam said, “When the rest of the world is planning on how to distribute the vaccine, what funds will be required, the government has not made it clear how much will be required for the vaccine. According to the media, India is procuring the vaccine at 3.22 dollars and we will have to buy it from India for over 5 dollars. This money will be spent from the people’s taxes. We are having to pay around 1.7 or more dollars for the vaccine, though it is being said that it is free. At the end of the day, it’s going from the taxpayers’ pockets. This is another big area of corruption.”

Also present during the discussions with the media were Thakurgaon district BNP president Taimur Rahman, general secretary Faisal Ameen, vice president Sultanul Ferdous Namra Chowdhury, joint general secretary Ansarul Huq, pourashava BNP general secretary Tarik Adnan and others.