Polls must be held within Dec: Tarique Rahman

BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman today said the national elections must be held within December 2025.

 “The national elections must be held within December,” he said while virtually addressing a youth rally organized by BNP’s three front bodies at Nayapaltan here.

The BNP leader urged the party men to take preparations for the national elections to be held by December.

"It seems that the upcoming national elections are being delayed. The future of the next national elections is revolving around the conditions of so-called less reforms and more reforms. Meantime, the people have started to believe that some people inside and outside the interim government seem to have different intentions behind the delay in reforms," he said.

Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, Swechchhasebak Dal and Chhatra Dal jointly organized the rally with Jubo Dal President M Monayem Munna in the chair.

BNP Standing Committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Salahuddin Ahmed Swechchhasebak Dal President SM Jilani, Jubo Dal General Secretary Nurul Islam Nayan and Chhatra Dal President Rakibul Islam Rakib spoke.

Swechchhasebak Dal General Secretary Rajib Ahsan and Chhatra Dal General Secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir jointly moderated the rally.

The acting chairman of BNP said, “Those who did not respect the court's verdict prevented Ishraque Hossain from taking oath as the mayor of Dhaka South. We have seen identical incident during fascist rule”.

Tarique Rahman said obstruction of Ishraque Hossain’s swearing in once again unearthed the manifestation of an authoritarian mentality.

About the impartiality of the interim government, he said, "Impartiality and credibility are the main assets of the interim government. Therefore, we will call on them, it will not be right for the interim government to take any steps that will destroy the trust and love of the people.”

He suggested if anyone of the government wants to stay in running the state, he or she must resign from their government position and take part in the election.

“If you get the people's verdict in the future elections, then take over the responsibility of the government again,” he said.

He said new voters have not had the opportunity to vote in a national election and elect their own candidate. 

“Therefore, we believe that the interim government should make visible preparations for holding national elections along with the reform issue,” he said.

Noting that the previous caretaker government held elections within three months, this time the interim government is not able to hold those elections even within ten months, he said, "In the past, caretaker governments have held impartial elections in Bangladesh at various times, and in each case, we have seen that the caretaker government successfully completed national elections within three months. There is a record in Bangladesh in the past that it is possible to hold national elections within three months."

“But, today we see that even after 10 months, the interim government is not announcing the date of the elections,” he said.

Describing his pledges to the people, he said If BNP is voted to power, it will transform the population into human resources through a work-oriented education system, development of small industries, maximum use of information technology in rural development, creation of employment opportunities through extensive training, and short and long-term planning to build a skilled manpower.