Shawdesh Desk:

Political parties and alliances simultaneously fighting for the ouster of the government of Sheikh Hasina are likely to follow the Bangladesh Nationalist Party as regards participating in the forthcoming upcoming upazila council elections.

Nevertheless, the BNP is yet to change its decision to stand out of any election under the Awami League government and the existing Election Commission while the party is facing pressure from the grassroots and many central leaders to participate the upazila elections.

New Age confirmed the issue after talking with several leaders of the alliance partners and the BNP.

The Election Commission already announced that it would hold upazila elections in four phases from May 4 while the ruling Awami League already decided to nominate no official party candidate in upazila elections and no one would get the AL electoral symbol.

Leaders of the BNP allies feel that all the reasons for which they have boycotted the January 7 national elections still exist as the people have no confidence in the entire electoral system as all recent elections have been turned into farce.

The BNP has a policy decision not to go to any national and local government election under the AL government and the existing Election Commission. As part of this, the party has boycotted all elections, including the parliamentary polls, for two years.

Asked about the decision on the next upazila elections, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told New Age that the BNP was yet to change its decision of not participating in any polls under that existing system.

‘There is still enough time for the upazila elections and the BNP standing committee would sit and make necessary decisions in this regard,’ he said.

Grassroots leaders and many central leaders think that a new political context has arisen after the 12th parliamentary elections and there are some reasons to think about the upazila elections, a BNP standing committee member said.

‘There is a kind of frustration among the party leaders and activists. At the same time, the organisation across the country has weakened. In such a situation, a section of party leaders and activists think that it is time to change the decision of joining on election,’ he said.

The BNP leader said that the party could participate in the elections for three reasons.

Local elections are not for the change of government and the movement of BNP is demanding national elections under a neutral government, he said.

The Awami League is not giving any symbol to its candidates in the elections, so if BNP leaders contest in the same way it would not considered as the BNP’s participation directly, said the leader.

The local elections can be a platform to reinvigorate the grassroots organisation that has weakened, he said.

‘The decision will be made considering the overall situation,’ he said.

Several leaders of BNP allies said that following the BNP they also decided not to go to the upazila elections in the past.

They said that now they were looking at the final decision of the BNP.

They said that in a meeting held after the election, they had a preliminary discussion with the BNP in this regard, but the final discussion was not yet to take place.

Saiful Huq, one of the top leaders of Ganatantra Mancha and general secretary of the Revolutionary Workers Party, told New Age that the people lacked confidence in the entire electoral system of the country.

‘We still do not think there is any chance that people will be able to vote freely if the political parties participate in the elections under the strong dominance of the government. As a result, we get the impression that opposition parties including the BNP will not participate in the next upazila elections,’ he said.

‘Ganatantra Manch and the BNP may not join the elections. No final decision has, however, yet been made on what will be the alliance’s position if someone joins the polls independently,’ he said.

Fariduzzaman Farhad, the coordinator of the Jatiyatabdi Samamana Jote and chairman of the National People’s Party, said that under the Awami League government and the current Election Commission, no election would be fair.

‘Pro-democratic parties are agitating to bring back democracy and people’s right to vote. In such a situation, there is no ground for participating in the upazila elections.

Abul Kalam Azad, the coordinator of Democratic Left Unity and convenor of the Social Democratic Party, said that since 2008 no election had been held in a free and fair manner and all election turned into farce.

‘It is meaningless to participate in such elections under the AL government and the current Election Commission. But we are on a simultaneous movement to oust the government and we will make a decision,’ he said.