BNP to take part in N'ganj city polls

The BNP last night decided to take part in the Narayanganj City Corporation polls slated for December 22.

The party, however, will boycott the zila parishad elections as it thinks the electoral system used for the polls conflicts with the constitution.

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The decisions were taken at a meeting of the BNP standing committee with party Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the chair.

“Elections under the current Election Commission and the government became farcical as the ruling party men snatched election results …. Despite that, the BNP decided to take part in the Narayanganj City Corporation polls as the party believes in democracy and change in power only through elections,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters emerging from the meeting midway.

The meeting began around 9:00pm at Khaleda's Gulshan office.

About the zila parishad elections, Fakhrul said results of those polls have already been determined as 99.9 percent voters of the polls are from the Awami League.

“The BNP will boycott the zila parishad elections as the way the elections are going to held is against the country's constitution.”

He also said the BNP standing committee, the party's highest policymaking body, decided that the party will stage demonstrations across the country on November 21 to protest the issuance of arrest warrant against Khaleda Zia in the case over celebrating “fake” birthday on August 15.

EU TEAM MEETS KHALEDA

A six-member European Parliament's International Trade Affairs (INTA) Committee, led by its Chair Bernd Lange, met the BNP chairperson at her Gulshan office around 6:00pm.

Briefing reporters about the meeting, Fakhrul said the committee told Khaleda that they wanted democracy, rule of law and human rights to be protected in Bangladesh.