A delegation of Jatiya Oikya Front, led by Dr Kamal Hossain, will meet the Election Commission today (Wednesday), seeking deferment of the national election by a month, report agencies.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the announcement after a meeting of Oikya Front steering committee at Dr Kamal Hossain's Motijheel Chamber.
He said Kamal Hossain along with the Oikya Front's steering committee members will hold a meeting with the EC at Nirbachan Bhaban at 12.00pm on Wednesday.
"The Election Commission, I think, failed to take steps for holding a free, fair and credible election. The Commission was supposed to talk to political parties before the election schedule announcement, but they didn't," he said.
The Oikya Front spokesman said they have got upset as the EC fixed December 30 for holding the election without any discussion with the political parties. "We think it's extremely essential to accept our demand for delaying the election by one month."
He said foreign election observers will not have any scope to monitor the election if it is held on December 30 as they will remain busy due to the Christmas and New Year events.
Under, the circumstances, he said they will hold the meeting with the EC and talk about their various demands and observations on the election.
Besides, Fakhrul said Dr Kamal Hossain will exchange views with the editors of different print media on Friday and then will sit with the heads of electronic media.
Replying to a question, he said they still did not settle the seat-sharing issue with their alliance partners.
Meanwhile, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the BNP's demand for deferring the election schedule further is illogical.
His comment came hours after the BNP repeated its demand for pushing back the 11th parliamentary election by a month.
In response to BNP's comment, Quader said: "The election time cannot depend foreign observers."
"Would they delay the election in their own countries, if Bangladesh observers failed to reach there?" he said.
"They are taking part in the election but raising a lot of allegations at the same time."
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