DHAKA — The Bangladesh Nationalist Party does not want the national election delayed except in unavoidable circumstances, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said Thursday.
He spoke to reporters after meeting Chief Election Commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin at the Election Commission building in Agargaon on Thursday evening.
“We are in the electoral process. God forbid, we do not want to step outside this process except in unavoidable circumstances,” Khan said. “We hope the election schedule will be announced soon.”
The BNP has long demanded a timely election, he said, adding that the party wanted to return the people’s rights to the people so they could choose their leaders through their vote. “The BNP does not want this right to be delayed,” he said.
Speaking about BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, Khan said: “Deshnetri Begum Khaleda Zia will travel abroad for treatment early tomorrow morning. We hope she will recover quickly and return to take part in this process. With that in mind, we have announced several more candidate names today.”
The voter list is larger this time, Khan said, and voters will use two ballots at polling stations — one for parliamentary candidates and another for the referendum.
“It already takes considerable time to vote on a single ballot,” he said. “With two ballots, it will take longer. The Election Commission has said it is considering increasing the number of polling rooms or stations to ensure voters can vote without trouble. The matter will be discussed at the commission’s meeting next Sunday.”
Khan said information had emerged that the printing of ballot papers might be assigned to a private press. “The BNP’s position on this is firm,” he said. “Ballot papers are always printed at the government press. We have said no ballot papers should be printed at any private press.” The commission has assured them that ballots will be printed only at government institutions, he said.
The BNP also raised the issue of expatriate voters, Khan said. “Many expatriate Bangladeshis cannot become voters because they do not have a national identity card. They contact us regularly. We have said their valid passports should be accepted as identification in place of the NID, so they can be included on the voter rolls,” he said.
Ismail Zabiullah, an adviser to the BNP chairperson, and Dr. Mohammad Zakaria, former acting secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat, attended the meeting. Akhtar Ahmed, senior secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat, was also present.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report