BNP, allies still undecided.
Major opposition political parties, including the Bangldesh Nationalist Party, have yet to decide whether to contest the upcoming elections to three city corporations or not. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has not yet taken a decision on whether it would put candidates in the elections to the two Dhaka city corporations and Chittagong city corporation, scheduled for April 28. BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan told New Age on Wednesday that the party had not yet taken a decision on the matter. The Election Commission announced the schedules for elections to DCC North and South cities and CCC on Wednesday. He was asked whether BNP and its allies would join the three city corporation polls. Asked if there was any possibility that that party would join the three city polls, Nazrul said he could not say anything until the party took a decision.
Asked when the decision might be announced, he said definitely the matter would be discussed in the party and only then it could be known. Nazrul Islam Khan has been staying at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office for about one month. Party chairperson Khaleda Zia has been staying at her office since January 3 after the government held her confined at the office till January 19. BNP’s international affairs secretary Asaduzzaman Ripon and party chairperson’s adviser Abdul Awal Mintoo were primarily picked up as mayoral candidates for the Dhaka South city and Dhaka North city respectively when the polls schedules were first announced in 2012. BNP candidate M Monjurul Alam was elected mayor in the last Chittagong city corporation polls. Jamaat-e-Islami, a major ally of BNP, ‘is unlikely to participate in the electoral process if the BNP does not put candidates’, a Jamaat leader said. Socialist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Khalequzaman also said that the party would take part in the city corporation elections ‘if the government fulfills the party’s demands’. The demands included creating a congenial atmosphere for holding the elections, reduction in the security deposits and ceiling for election expenditures for the candidates.
The CPB and the BSD will stage demonstrations in front of the Election Commission on March 25 to protest at what the parties said, ‘the attempts to make election a game of the ruling class’. Krishak Sramik Janata League, led by Abdul Kader Siddique, has not yet decided whether to take part in the city elections, said Iqbal Siddiqee, the joint general secretary of the party. Democratic Left Alliance, a combine of the eight left leaning political parties, has taken no decision as yet on whether to contest the DCC elections, said Zonayed Saki, chief coordinator of the Ganasanghati Andolan and coordinator of the DLA. ‘We want an end to the current political crisis through dialogue and a congenial atmosphere for holding the city corporations polls,’ he said. However, leaders of Gana Forum and Nagarik Oikya earlier announced that they would take part in the DCC elections. The ruling Awami League’s major ally Jatiya Party led by HM Ershad announced that the party would put candidates in the city polls. Communist Party of Bangladesh has already named candidates for the polls. CPB president Mujahidul Islam Selim said his party would take part in the elections to the city corporations if a level playing field was created before the polls and their demands were fulfilled by the Election Commission. The other partners of the AL-led alliance, including Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and Ganatantri Party, are likely to support the AL candidates in the mayoral polls, sources in the parties told New Age.
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