Stern action if anyone tries to foil polls: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has once again accused the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami of trying to foil the January 7 national election.

“The consequences will not be good if anyone tries to foil the election,” she said.

Hasina, also the Awami League president, was speaking at a meeting of the AL Parliamentary Nomination Board at its Dhaka district office in Tejgaon. The meeting was convened to finalise the party nominees for the election.

The premier said the BNP-Jamaat alliance did not participate in the 2014 parliamentary polls as they were not confident of winning the elections.

She said that although the BNP-Jamaat tried to taint the 2018 elections, they failed to produce any specific evidence of irregularities in support of their claims.

The PM said no political party can go to power by killing people and destroying properties.

Hasina admitted that the BNP’s acceptance among the people had been on the rise when it was holding peaceful rallies and doing healthy politics.

“But when they resorted to violence like they did in the past, they again became isolated from the people.”

The PM urged the BNP to take part in the January 7 elections. “Awami League also wants to see who has greater strength.”

She said the AL wants democracy to prevail in the country and the political parties to continue their activities freely.

“But the Awami League didn’t have this opportunity when the BNP was in power. Some 21,000 Awami League leaders and activists were killed across the country during their rule.”

The AL chief ruled out any confusion regarding free and fair elections. “There is no doubt about free and fair polls.”

She urged the people to exercise their voting rights with great confidence.

The PM said the AL government enacted a law to make the Election Commission independent, which was once under the Prime Minister’s Office.

Hasina alleged that people were cheated in the name of democracy during the rule of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman.

Criticising the foreign countries that are now talking about Bangladesh, she said, “Where was their conscience when the military dictators violated people’s rights?”

The AL president said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had to resign as PM on March 30, 1996, over “vote rigging”.