Polls race depends on EC’s attitude: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam today said the attitude of the Election Commission and the polls-time government will determine whether they will stay in the polls race or not.

“It will depend on the attitude of the Election Commission and the election-time government whether the opposition party will stay in the election race or not,” Fakhrul, a key leader of Jatiya Oikyafront, said after a meeting with the EC.

A 14-member delegation of the opposition alliance led by Dr Kamal Hossain held the meeting with Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda and three other election commissioners at EC office.

EC TO CONSIDER DEMAND FOR POLLS DEFERRAL

Talking to the journalists, Fakhrul said, “We have requested the Election Commission to defer the election date by three weeks. The election commission informed us that it will consider our demand.”  

About the use of the electronic voting machine (EVM) in the elections, the BNP leader said the EC is thinking to use the EVM in a limited scale in the city areas.

“The commission will also consider our stance against EVM if we can prove that the use of EVM is not safe,” Fakhrul said.

Kamal Hossain, the key leader of the opposition alliance, said they had detailed discussion with the Election Commission. “They (EC) responded to all of our queries and assured us of considering our demands,” Kamal, president of Gono Forum, said.   

WHEN IS THE ELECTION?

Election Commission has revised polls schedule, deferring the 11th general election by a week to December 30 – a decision taken earlier this week.

The authorities have fixed November 28 as the deadline for filing nomination papers, December 2 for scrutiny and December 9 last date of withdrawal.

The move came following demands from several opposition political parties.