TV ads for AL violate electoral rules: BNP

FE Team | Published: November 15, 2018 00:10:04

A BNP senior leader said advertisements (ads) of the government's development work on different television channels just ahead of the election breaches the electoral rules, report agencies.
He said the government has been carrying out the campaign to woo voters through advertisements with taxpayers' money.
"Turning on TVs, we find an advertisement of 'Thank You PM', and it continues for a while. In some cases, it's not clear who provided the ad, while in other cases it gets clear after a while that ministries are the advertisers," he said.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi came up with the remarks while speaking at a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the city.
"I would like to ask the chief election commissioner why this kind of publicity is going on just before the election?"
This is a clear violation of the rules for equal opportunities for all during the election campaign, Rizvi said. We urge the authorities to immediately stop these government-funded ads for the ruling Awami League."
"Why such publicity is being carried out with public money ahead of the election? This is being done at taxpayers' money," the BNP leader added.
He also alleged the Election Commission is giving a blind eye to the violation of the electoral code of conduct by the ruling party men.
Rizvi urged Awami League to stop carrying out its campaign through advertisements by wasting public money.
He called upon the Election Commission to ensure equal opportunities for all the political parties in the mass media.
The BNP leader alleged the Election Commission wants to control the mass media as it has imposed a restriction on live telecast by TV channels from polling stations during the forthcoming national election.
The Election Commission revised the polls schedule, deferring the 11th parliamentary election by a week to December 30. It set November 28 as the deadline for filing nomination papers, December 02 for scrutiny and December 09 as the last date of withdrawal.
"The Election Commission has turned a blind eye to these events. They are pretending not to see it," Rizvi added.
Meanwhile, BNP assistant office secretary Taiful Islam Tipu said the sale of their party's nomination forms remained halted for two hours due to the clash in front of
the party's Nayapaltan central office.