AL MPs say Hasina asked them ‘to be ready for inclusive general election’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told the Awami League MPs that the next general elections will be ‘inclusive’ and asked them to get ready for the vote.

She spoke at a meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Party at the parliament complex on Thursday, several MPs who attended the meeting told bdnews24.com.

Hasina’s instruction to the Awami League MPs came amid the BNP’s allegation that the ruling party is plotting to keep it out of the election.

“The leader (Hasina) said the next election will be inclusive. She asked us to work in our areas for this,” a former Bangladesh Chhatra League leader, now an MP who was at the meeting, told bdnews24.com.

“She ordered us all to close the gap with local leaders and activists in our constituencies,” he added.

The national election will be held by the end of this year, but it is not clear whether the BNP, which sits out of parliament after the boycott of the last general election in 2014, will join it.

The party says it will not contest for parliamentary seats with its chief Khaleda Zia in jail for corruption and Hasina heading the polls-time government.

The Awami League has rejected its arch-rival’s proposal to dissolve parliament and form a government ‘to facilitate fair election’, while Khaleda’s release is being delayed by arrest orders on different charges.

The ruling party also says the election will go ahead even if the BNP decides to sit it out once again.

17th constitutional amendment

The MPs also said they were asked to attend the current parliament session for the passage of the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Bill 2018.

The constitutional amendment will keep the 50 parliamentary seats reserved for women for another 25 years.

The constitutional provision introducing the reserved seats will expire on Jan 24 next year, which means the constitution has to be amended before that time to keep the seats.