DHAKA — Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman appealed to first-time voters on Sunday to cast their inaugural ballots for the party’s paddy-sheaf symbol in the next national election.
“Let the first vote of youth go to the paddy sheaf,” Tarique told a student rally at Shahbagh in the capital on the afternoon of Aug. 3. He urged Chhatra Dal activists at the event to carry the message to young voters across the country. The rally was part of a month-long Chhatra Dal program marking the anniversary of the July-August mass uprising.
The BNP acting chairman said roughly 40 million new voters had been added to the country’s rolls of 130 million voters over the past decade and a half. “You became voters, but the fascist circle stripped you of your right to vote. The coming general election offers a huge opportunity to restore that lost right,” he said. He also sought the support and cooperation of young people in building a self-reliant Bangladesh.
Tarique called on Chhatra Dal leaders and activists, students and young people across the country to carry his appeal forward.
Activists at the rally chanted along with Tarique, “Let the first vote of youth go to the paddy sheaf.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report