National Citizen Party (NCP) convenor Nahid Islam has commented that questions have arisen in people’s minds about BNP Chairman Tariq Rahman’s ‘plan’. He said these things during the press briefing after the meeting with the chief advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday.
About Tarek Rahman, Nahid Islam told reporters, ‘BNP Chairman Tarek Rahman came back to Bangladesh and said that he has a plan. The question is whether it is part of his plan to put pressure on the Election Commission, an independent constitutional body. Controlling the media, rigging the elections, putting pressure on the administration, questioning the elections, getting the “No” vote in the plebiscite, getting debtors and dual citizens into parliament—we are all questioning whether these are part of his plan.’
Addressing Tariq Rahman, Nahid said, ‘If this is his plan, this election will not be conducted impartially, the polling stations will be occupied, there will be factionalism in the administration, the election commission will be pressured to bring a verdict in favor of his own party, the people of the country and the youth will not accept them. His plan should be made clear to the people.’
Nahid Islam alleged that the Election Commission is biased towards BNP candidates. He said that the NCP candidate is being given a show-cause notice (show cause notice) as there are pictures in the referendum campaign. Although Tariq Rahman has various banners and festoons, no action is being taken against him.
The Returning Officer issued show cause notices to NCP candidate Nahid Islam in Dhaka-11 constituency and Nasiruddin Patwari in Dhaka-8 constituency for violating the code of conduct of the Election Commission. Taking this issue, Nahid Islam said, Tariq Rahman’s picture is being used all over Dhaka city, all over Bangladesh. Many more candidate images are also being used. Then action should be taken against them.
If the EC behaves in a biased manner, it will affect the election and there will be apprehension about the election, said Nahid Islam. He said, if the election is not fair and impartial, then the responsibility will fall on the interim government and Professor Yunus.
On this day, the delegation of NCP sat in a meeting with the chief advisor in Jamuna under the leadership of Nahid Islam. The delegation also included party spokesperson and chairman of the central election management committee Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, secretary of that committee Monira Sharmin and head of the legal support sub-committee Zahirul Islam Musa. After the meeting, they spoke to the journalists.
At that time, NCP spokesperson Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan said that Nahid Islam and Naseeruddin Patwari were ‘shocked’ by the returning officer. He alleged that this was done purely purposefully and biasedly and to conduct a ‘media trial’.
