Govt cheating people by hastily enacting EC formation law: Fakhrul

The government is cheating the people by hastily enacting a law to form the next Election Commission (EC), BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said.

"The EC formation law is just the government's way of ensuring election engineering," said Mirza Fakhrul this afternoon following a meeting at the Gulshan office of the party.

He said the ruling government has no moral right to make such a law as it was not legally elected by people's votes.

The attempt to enact this law in a hurry is just a blueprint of the Awami League government to cling onto power by holding another rigged election deceiving the people, he added.

"Given the political context," he said, "BNP thinks it is not possible to hold a fair election under any election commission unless it is held under a caretaker government.

It was proven during the voterless one-way elections of 2014 and 2018 which were held through midnight vote-robbery, the BNP leader added.

"The BNP believes that the only way to bring back democracy in Bangladesh is the resignation of the illegitimate government of the present Awami League, the transfer of power to a neutral non-partisan government, and a free, fair, participatory election run by an election commission consisting of people acceptable to all."

To this end, Mirza Fakhrul called for building national unity in restoring democracy through a mass movement.

He said the Awami League government has put Bangladesh at great risk by using state institutions including RAB for illegal killings, murders, disappearances, extrajudicial killings to stay in power and its far-reaching effects will negatively impact Bangladesh's security, stability and economy. The government has to bear all the responsibility for creating this situation.

He also said that the government is using the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and other law enforcement forces to cling on to power and is endangering the country.

The BNP secretary general condemned the attack on Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) students by the police and the Chhatra League - the student wing ruling Bangladesh Awami League.

Mirza Fakhrul said BNP supports the ongoing student protest at SUST, adding that Vice-Chancellor Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed and all involved in the attack on students should be removed and brought under investigation.