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BNP senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Monday said the timeframe for the upcoming national election, as hinted by the Chief Adviser, is unnecessarily lengthy and not within their desired logical time.
“The election period hinted at by the government has not been discussed with us. We cannot understand why such a lengthy timeframe has been given,” he said while speaking to reporters after a meeting with the leaders of the Nationalist Democratic Movement (NDM), reports UNB.
As part of BNP’s efforts to consolidate unity and seek the opinions of its alliance partners, Khosru held a meeting with the NDM leaders at the BNP Chairperson’s office in Gulshan in the evening.
The BNP leader said people are expressing various concerns over the government’s intention to hold the election after taking so much time in the name of reforms. “So, people are getting confused and finding various reasons… We told the government to arrange the election within a logical timeframe, but we’re not seeing it.”
The BNP leader said he discussed the country’s overall political situation, the election timeframe, reforms, and other related issues with the NDM leaders.
He said the Chief Adviser suddenly spoke about the election timeframe without consulting the political parties, despite having held meetings with them on various important issues. “We believe the most important issue now is the election, which the people of Bangladesh have been waiting for. But we’re not aware of the election timeframe,” Khosru said.
Regarding reforms, he said the government should have first completed the reforms in the country’s electoral system by the time. “We’re now supposed to head towards the election after completing the electoral reforms.”
The BNP leader said other reforms must be carried out in parliament by elected public representatives with the people’s mandate.
He said the government can only implement reforms on which political parties reach a consensus. “But where political consensus can’t be reached, those reforms will be implemented in parliament with the mandate of the people.”
The BNP leader also said it is unnecessary to buy time under the guise of reforms and reform commissions’ reports. “We are committed to the nation to implement our 31-point reform proposal through a national government. There is no room for confusion on this matter.”
When asked whether the party has any plans to launch a movement to pressure the government to hold the elections promptly, Khosru said they want to follow the peaceful path of liberal democracy.
“There have been many clashes and conflicts in the past, which have badly affected the people of the country. So, we are trying to ensure that such conflicting politics never returns to Bangladesh. Our efforts will succeed only if the election is held as soon as possible,” he observed.
NDM Chairman Bobby Hajjaj said they, along with the BNP, want the government to present a clear roadmap for the election to promptly restore the people’s right to vote.
“There’s no reason to delay the election. No government can make any major decision without the mandate of the people. Therefore, we want the government to come up with a detailed and clear election roadmap,” he said.
Later, Khosru also held another meeting with a delegation from a faction of Gono Odhikar Parishad, led by Mia Moshiuzzaman.
Earlier on Saturday, the party began talks with political groups that had launched a simultaneous movement with it against the Awami League regime. These discussions included three separate meetings with the 12-Party Alliance, Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote, and the Labour Party.
On December 16, Chief Adviser Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus indicated that the 13th National Parliamentary Election might be scheduled for the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026.
A day later, his Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam, clarified that the next general election could be expected to take place by June 30, 2026.
"He (CA) has provided a timeline. What could be a clearer roadmap than this? You can expect the election to be held by June 30, 2026. This is a clear roadmap," he said while briefing reporters at the Foreign Service Academy.