Ruling party-backed candidates violating electoral code: BNP

Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance on Monday alleged that ruling Awami League-backed candidates were already campaigning for the three city polls, violating the electoral code of conduct. The alliance in a statement signed by BNP joint secretary general Barkat Ullah Bulu, said the Election Commission’s enforcement of electoral code of conduct for elections to the divided Dhaka city corporations and Chittagong city corporation, was not visible. Instead, Awami League-backed candidates have been openly campaigning, violating all electioneering code of conducts, the statement said. On the other hand, the opposition-backed candidates are not being allowed the slightest scope to campaign, the statement added. The harassment of opposition candidates, supporters and leaders and activists; various politically-motivated false cases; threatening statements from ministers, MPs and top officials of the law enforcing agencies over the free movement of opposition leaders and activists, is making election atmosphere more biased and tense, the alliance observed.

The Alliance claimed that another example had been set, through the municipality elections to Faridpur and Chandpur on Sunday, that any election cannot be fair and neutral under the incumbent ‘illegal’ government. ‘The Awami terrorists have staged a grand festival of vote fraud through occupying polling centers, snatching away ballot papers and filling them out in the open,’ read the statement. The 20-party alliance expects that the government and the Election Commission will take necessary initiatives to hold the upcoming three city polls in free, fair and neutral manner, the statement said. Otherwise, it will once again be proven that the present commission is nothing but a toothless tiger, the alliance said, adding that the nation would never forgive the ruling party and subservient election commission if the government resorted to robbery during the three mayoral polls, and if EC extended its cooperation to it. The statement said it was clear how vulnerable the present law and order situation was, when the body of a former bureaucrat is found in Dhanmondi Lake. The government and law enforcers still have not revealed the whereabouts of BNP joint secretary general Salah Uddin Ahmed 20 days since his abduction, the alliance said.

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