BNP decides to contest in Dec 22 Narayanganj City elections

The BNP has decided to contest in the polls to Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) slated for Dec 22.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Nov 2016, 05:13 PM
Updated : 17 Nov 2016, 08:48 PM

The party, however, has refused to budge from its stance of boycotting the district council elections scheduled to be held next month. 

Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the decisions after emerging from an ongoing meeting of its National Standing Committee with party chief Khaleda Zia in the chair at her Gulshan office on Thursday night.

"Our Standing Committee has decided that the BNP will take part in the Narayanganj City Corporation elections because we believe in democracy," he said.

"BNP is a democratic party and we think that a change of power can be made through elections. That's why we've decided to take part in Narayanganj city polls," Mirza Fakhrul added.

In 2011, Khaleda decided to stay away from the NCC elections hours before the voting.

Taimur Alam Khandaker. File Photo

BNP-backed candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker was unhappy and had said he had to 'sacrifice himself’ on Khaleda's orders.

Narayanganj BNP President Taimur is willing to get the party ticket this time as well.

In the non-partisan polls in 2011, Awami League leader Selina Hayat Ivy went on to defeat Narayanganj party heavyweight AKM Shamim Osman.

The election will be held along party lines for the first time this year following a change in law that allows political parties to nominate candidates for the local government elections.

The nominees will contest in the mayoral election with party symbols, like 'boat' of the Awami League and 'paddy sheaf' of the BNP, while all others will be independent candidates.

The NCC polls may well be the last one to be organised by the Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed-led Election Commission (EC) as it runs its term in February.

The BNP, despite having no confidence in the current EC, won the city corporation polls in Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal.

The party joined the elections in three city corporations but boycotted Dhaka and Chittagong polls halfway through alleging rigging.

About the boycott of Zila Parishad (district council) elections, Mirza Fakhrul said the party thinks the process to hold the elections to the local government body is 'contradictory to the Constitution'.

"The results of these elections were prepared beforehand. The government has the most, 99.99 percent of the votes," he claimed.

Under the amended laws, elected representatives of local government bodies like Upazila and union councils vote to elect district council chairman and councillors.

Mirza Fakhrul also announced demonstration for Nov 21 against an arrest warrant issued for Khaleda in a case over celebrating her birthday on Aug 15, the day Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975.