EC can hold election by June-July if they prepare properly, says BNP’s Rizvi

The Election Commission can hold the general election by June or July if they take the proper preparations, says said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabi Rizvi.

“The public will start to doubt [the intent of the] interim government if they are reluctant to hold an election. Therefore, procrastination in the election isn’t acceptable at all,” he said.

Rizvi spoke at an event organised to meet the families of those killed in the July Uprising in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj and to provide them with financial aid.

“Amra BNP Poribar” organised the event at Bhuban Mohan Park in Rajshahi on Friday.

“Why would they need such a long time to hold the election?” Rizvi asked. “Sheikh Hasina blocked this election for 15 years. Voters who went to the polling centres found their ballots were already cast. Instead of during the day, the votes were cast at night. Our electoral system - a democratic institution - has been destroyed.”

“All these institutions will have to be revived again,” he said, raising questions as to why the government was procrastinating

He called the interim government itself a “caretaker government” and said, “Hence, this government can hold a fair election.”

Rizvi said the police must not be biased to any political party and law enforcers should not represent the government or torture the common people.

Reforms and laws are needed to ensure those aspects, he said. To draft such laws, the country needs an elected government and that’s why a general election is needed before anything else, the BNP stalwart said.