BNP seeks election in ‘three to four months’

There is ‘no need’ for door-to-door data collection to update the voter list, top leaders of the party say

The BNP has demanded the 13th parliamentary election by completing the reform within three to four months, opposing the decision of door-to-door data collection to update the voter list.

The party came up with the demand from a media briefing at its office in Dhaka’s Gulshan on Monday, a day after Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus’s message of "election after major reforms" at a meeting with an IMF advisor.

BNP Standing Committee members Nazrul Islam Khan, Mirza Abbas, Abdul Moyeen Khan, and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury among others spoke at the event to highlight the proposals submitted to the commission formed to reform the electoral system.

Nazrul said, “It is possible to hold the election quickly according to the proposals we have made. No proposal has been made there to do anything new.”

"We recommended strengthening the Election Commission, formation of an election secretariat, and giving them some powers. Amending and reforming the existing laws don’t require much time.”

"We don't think it will take more than 3 to 4 months to complete other reforms of the government such as administrative reforms, judicial reforms, law enforcement reforms and hold the election.”

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had demanded a national election within 90 days on Aug 5, the day the Awami League government fell.

After the meeting at Bangabhaban that night, he said President Mohammed Shahabuddin would make an announcement on the election in his address to the nation.

The BNP secretary general also made a few other comments that day. Whatever he said, the president's speech contained everything but the election.

The interim government, which was sworn in on Aug 8, has not given any specific idea about the potential timing of the election, although the Constitution stipulates that the election must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of parliament, which has already passed.

In a question during a meeting with Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, an advisor to the IMF and World Bank and a former head of UNDP on Sunday, he said: “The government is committed to carrying out 'major reforms' before holding a free and fair election.”

However, the Chief Advisor’s Office did not provide any explanation about these major reforms.