AL Has No Objection On Polls Re-Scheduling: Quader

The ruling Awami League general secretary, Obaidul Quader, on Wednesday (November 22) said that his party had no objection if the next general election schedule was changed maintaining the timeframe following the constitution of Bangladesh.

He was responding to a question about Jatiya Party’s message to defer the election schedule after holding meeting with visiting Commonwealth pre-election assessment mission on the day at AL Dhaka district unit office in the capital’s Tejgaon area.

Such a comment came from the AL, a day after an election commissioner’s remark that the commission would consider the issue of changing the election schedule if the opposition parties come forward to vie the general election, slated for January 7.

Asked whether the election scheduled for January 7 would be termed one-sided without the participation of the main opposition Bangladesh Party, Quader said, ‘It will not be right to draw a conclusion of one-sided election if that is not participated by BNP.’

He said that there were many parties that wanted to join the next poll and they were also the part of democratic process.

Quader informed the Commonwealth pre-election assessment mission that the prime minister Sheikh Hasina had made necessary legal corrections in the Election Commission to make the election free, fair and peaceful.

He asked the commonwealth team whether there was any country in the world that had no fault in their democracy.

He also said that the discussion was fruitful as they seemed positive in the meeting.

The Commonwealth team headed by Linford Andrews joined the discussion with AL.

AL presidium member Faruk Khan, its information and research secretary Selim Mahmud, office secretary Biplab Barua, finance and planning secretary Waseqa Ayesha Khan and former Public Service Commission chairman, also the former EC secretary Mohammad Sadique, among others, were present in the meeting.