The BNP has criticised the government for attempting to amend several laws to pave the way for political parties to contest elections to the local government bodies.
Published : 12 Oct 2015, 09:00 PM
The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Monday cleared the drafts for amendments to five such laws.
Once passed in Parliament, these would allow registered political parties to field candidates in the local government elections on their party symbols.
Reacting to the Cabinet decision, the BNP alleged the move aimed at getting the ruling Awami League leaders elected to various local bodies.
At a press briefing hours later, the party’s spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon said opposition leaders and activists were either being attacked or charges were being slapped against them, forcing them to go into hiding.
Against such backdrop, he said, if local elections were held with participation of political parties, then their leaders and activities would not be able to work for their candidates.
“Realising this situation, government is trying to banish the opposition (BNP and its allies) from political and electoral arena so that it could hold local government polls in the same manner as it had conducted the general election on Jan 5 (in 2014),” Ripon alleged.
The move to amend the laws has been initiated ahead of the elections to the Union Parishads and municipalities.
However, Awami League leaders have been seeking the amendments for quite some time.