BNP will continue contesting in elections for democracy’s sake, Fakhrul says

The BNP has decided to contest in all the elections to come despite its confidence in polls organised by the current Election Commission and overseen by the Awami League has dropped following a debacle in the recent Dhaka city vote.

“We will contest in all the local government elections. We had taken the decision earlier. We are contesting in the by-elections as well. The decision hasn’t changed,” Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Tuesday.

“Contesting in the elections is the greatest democratic movement,” he explained, speaking at a meeting of the party in Chattogram.

“Many have asked why we are contesting in the elections even after watching our votes being snatched away. The answer is that the BNP is a liberal democratic party. We believe that vote is the only way towards democracy,” he added.

The party contested in the 11th parliamentary polls by the end of 2018 with its chief Khaleda Zia in jail in corruption cases after a boycott of the previous general election.

It rejected the results of the parliamentary elections alleging widespread irregularities.

The party contested in the Dhaka city polls earlier this month but lost. It says no election can be fair with the Awami League in power.

Now by-elections to Dhaka-10, Bagerhat-4 and Gaibandha-3 are scheduled to be held on Mar 21 while the elections to the Chattogram City Corporation are likely to be held shortly.

Zafrullah Chowdhury, a veteran pro-BNP public health activist, had recently advised the party to focus on protests for Khaleda’s freedom instead of elections.