Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has demanded that teachers at MPO-listed institutions be allowed to stand as candidates in local government elections. The party has also demanded the cancellation of the appointment of the Election Commission’s additional secretary, Md Shamsul Alam.
After a meeting with the chief election commissioner, AMM Nasir Uddin, on Wednesday, Jamaat’s secretary general, Mia Golam Parwar, told journalists that the party had given the commission a nine-point set of proposals on local government elections.
He said the move to declare teachers at MPO-listed institutions ineligible for elections, without discussion with stakeholders, is not acceptable. Teachers have taken part in local government elections for a long time, he said, so the decision must be withdrawn and the opportunity for them to take part kept open.
Jamaat also called for the cancellation of Md Shamsul Alam’s contractual appointment as additional secretary of the Election Commission, claiming that he is a person connected with the BNP. The party contends that political appointments are not acceptable at a constitutional institution such as the Election Commission.
At the meeting Jamaat also demanded that office-holders of banned political parties be declared ineligible for elections.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report