Staff Reporter:
Lambasting Jamaat for its plea to hold the next general election under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed has said those who are facing the forfeiture of their deposits are now advocating for the election in this way.
Many leaders are now claiming that BNP is only focused on the election and is not interested in reforms or trials, he said, adding that such statements are being made by those who will forfeit their depositions in the national election.
While addressing a meeting held in South Keraniganj on Saturday, Salahuddin, standing committee member of BNP, said leaders of some political parties are warning that they will not join the national election until the reforms and trials of those responsible for the July mass upsurge are completed.
Besides, a political party has described the prevailing atmosphere as not congenial for the next general election, but why they are telling lies like these, they can come up with specific plans to pave the way for the election, he said.
They (Jamaat and NCP) are misinterpreting the people’s demand, saying that the countrymen want the next general election to be held under the PR system, Salahuddin said.
Rejecting the claim, the BNP leader said the people of the country indeed know nothing about the PR system.
Recalling how Sheikh Mujib and Sheikh Hasina frequently invoked the spirit of various issues, he called upon Jamaat and NCP leaders not to exploit such sentiments of the people only for political gain.
“You are not the sole stakeholder of the July upsurge. Don’t forget the sacrifice of BNP men,” said the BNP leader, pointing his finger at Jamaat and NCP leaders.
Some political parties staged a public meeting at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital, Dhaka, recently and from there they raised the plea to hold the national election under the PR system, he said.
Even those who were close allies of the Awami League, once fanning Sheikh Hasina with hand fans, are now demanding an election under proportional representation in both the lower and upper houses, he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman, while addressing a programme on Saturday, demanded that the next general election will have to be held under the PR system
The PR is an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party.
Since the fall of the Awami League government in August last year, several political parties in Bangladesh have been advocating for electoral reform, mostly the introduction of a proportional representation (PR) system.
This call was recently reinforced at a rally in Dhaka organised by Islami Andolan Bangladesh, where parties like Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the National Citizen Party (NCP) and Gano Adhikar Parishad voiced strong support for the proposal.
