Govt deceiving people in the name of EC formation: Fakhrul

BNP Secretery General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday alleged that the government is deceiving people in the name of formation of the Election Commission (EC) through the search committee.

"The people of Bangladesh have been deprived of their  minimum rights to vote. The new EC is being formed. We've earlier said this EC won't' be useful unless there's no neutral and non-party polls-time  government," he said.

Speaking at a book lunching programme at the Jatiya Press Club, the BNP leader said the government wants to consolidate its power to restore one-party Baksal rule. "They're going to form the Election Commission through the search deceiving people to hold national elections like those in 2014 and 2018.

The Universal Academy arranged the programmer to unveil the cover of the book titled "Smriti Album" (Memory Album) on the life and work of BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.

Referring to newspaper reports, Fakhrul said an official at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has been removed as he identified some corrupt people. "But he was removed as those people (corrupt ones) have accused him of being corrupt."

He alleged that the ACC official was removed without conducting any fair investigation into the allegations brought against him. "Corruption has engulfed the country with the government's backing."

The BNP leader also said the relatives of the Education Minister plundered around Tk 300 crore in the name of land acquisition for a university in Chandpur.

"I've read in the newspaper that per km construction cost of the road from Dhaka Airport to Tonggi was shown Tk 213 crore which is unprecedented in the world. "Widespread corruption is now everywhere. Corruption is now spreading like cancer," he observed.

Fakhrul bemoaned that even the vice-chancellors of  different universities are indulging in corruption. "Those working in the health ministry are involved in corruption. There's no place and sector, including the education one, where there's no corruption."

He called upon all to get united to get rid of such an appalling situation in the country.