AL's 11-point proposal not conducive to polls: BNP

A BNP senior leader said on Friday the Awami League (AL)'s 11-point proposal placed before the Election Commission is not conducive to fair polls, reports UNB

He also said BNP thinks AL's proposals are framed with a motive to control the election and manipulate its results.

"Awami-League's proposals are not conducive to democracy and a credible election. The proposals were made with a trick to control the election, the media, and election observers and to manipulate the results which completely go against public opinion," said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

He came up with the comments while speaking at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the city.

On Wednesday, AL placed an 11-point proposal, including introduction of the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), for holding the next general election in a credible manner.

During a dialogue with the Election Commission, the ruling party also proposed submission of the list of polling agents to presiding officers, and assistant presiding officers three days before the day of polling and appointing presiding and assistant presiding officers only from government officials.

Rizvi said his party thinks the Prime Minister herself is the major obstacle to the election.

"People want the election to be held under a non-party neutral administration. In their dialogue, Awami couldn't send out a good message to people as they opposed the election-time neutral government."

He urged the Election Commission to take proper steps for holding a credible and competitive election with the participation of all parties.

The BNP leader warned that it will be a tantamount to betraying people if the Commission arranges another Januray-5, 2014 like general election.

Opposing the ruling party's proposal for using EVMs in the next general election, Rizvi said Awami League wants it with an evil motive to manipulate the election results.

He also said the most political parties who joined the talks with the Commission opposed the EVM use in the general election.

The BNP leader also said Awami doesn't want army to be deployed with magistracy power as the party has an intention to resort to violence, and terrorism and snatch ballot boxes during the polls. "It won't be possible to contain terrorism during voting without giving army the magistracy power."