Election 'won't be easy' without BNP, Mirza Fakhrul says

Suggesting BNP indispensable for general elections, the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that it will 'not be easy' to hold the next parliamentary election without the opposition outside parliament.

The election is scheduled for early 2019.

Speaking to reporters at the party's Naya Paltan headquarters on Saturday, he claimed there was a conspiracy to cancel the party registration.

"But we are not concerned over the matter. Let them hold the election without the BNP if they wish so, but it will not be so easy," he said. 

"The BNP is the largest political party in this country and they (Awami League) have already held an election without this political party. Even India said it was not a legitimate election.

"I wish to say that if they create the same situation by leaving the BNP out, the government will never be accepted by the world, let alone the people of Bangladesh," Mirza Fakhrul added.

Reiterating the demand for a poll-time 'facilitating' government, he said the BNP would give a guideline on the matter at an 'appropriate time'.

Awami League leader Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, however, thinks all the parties, including the BNP, will take part in the parliamentary election with the Awami League in government, the commerce ministry said in a statement.

It said the minister, speaking at a programme in Dhaka, said he believes all the parties will take part in the election with Sheikh Hasina as the prime minister during the polls.

"No other option can be imagined," he said and added that all the parties were taking preparation for the election.