‘AL wants all parties’ participation in JS polls’

City Desk :
Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said Awami League wants the participation of all the political parties, including BNP, in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“We want the participation of all political parties, including BNP, in the upcoming general elections….We also want people to cast their votes with enthusiasm for electing the next government in a free and fair manner. We, on behalf of the government, will cooperate if it is necessary,” he said.
The minister told reporters on the twenty-sixth instant after exchanging views with the representatives of ‘The Election Monitoring Forum’ (EMF), a platform of election observers, from home and abroad, at the official residence of the minister in the city’s Minto Road area, reports BSS.
AL Relief and Social Welfare Secretary Aminul Islam Amin, EMF chairman Mohammad Abed Ali, Social activist and political analyst of Germany Volkar U Freidrich, Global Village Connection chairman of Bhutan Jackson Dukpa, Islamic Arabic University acting vice chancellor and director of the forum Abul Kalam Azad, pro vice-chancellor of BUET and director of the forum Professor Dr Abdul Jabbar Khan and agriculturalist Dr Azadul Haaque, among others, addressed the meeting.
 Hasan, also Awami League Joint General Secretary, said, “The representatives of the Election Monitoring Forum came here for a meeting with me. You (journalists) all know that a total of 108 organisations are registered with the Election Commission for monitoring the elections. Of those, the EMF is an alliance of 51 organisations.”
 The Minister went on saying, “They discussed election-related issues with me elaborately. They also said that they want the participation of all political parties, including BNP, in the next polls where the countrymen will elect their next government with enthusiasm. The forum has monitored the last election and they will send an election monitoring team to monitor the next elections.”
 The minister said the team was informed that the polls (next) will be held under the Election Commission (EC) like all other democratic countries. And the current government like India, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries of Continental Europe would work as the election-period government and the polls will be held under the EC, he added.
 Replying to a query, Hasan said BNP is afraid of elections and it is normal as they got only 29 seats in 2008’s polls. Later, they had boycotted the 2014’s polls to resist democracy though they failed, he added.
 He said BNP got only six seats after forming a grand alliance with rightists, leftists, extreme rightists, extreme leftists and the Taliban in 2018’s polls. Consequently, they are scared of the election, he added.