People have no interest in voting in a ‘meaningless’ election: BNP

BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan on Tuesday said the country’s people have no interest in casting their votes in a ‘meaningless’ election billed for January 7.

He also raised a question if there is public support in the ‍‍`one-sided‍‍` election, why the councillors have been given instructions by the police to bring voters to the polling stations.

Talking to reporters while distributing leaflets, containing BNPs‍‍` call for boycotting the upcoming polls, among the pedestrians on the Motijheel to Dilkusha Road, Nazrul said, “People are not interested in voting as they know it‍‍`s a meaningless election... It‍‍`s not a vote and not an election."

He called upon the voters not to go to the polling stations in any situation on January 7. “Don’t cooperate with the regime which is playing a game with the lives and livelihoods of people.”

Nazrul, a BNP standing committee member, said why the dummy candidates are needed to bring people to the polling station. "Why are beneficiaries of the government’s different programmes and facilities threatened that their cards will be cancelled if they don‍‍`t cast their votes? Why have you used police to instruct the councillors to bring people to the polling stations?

He said people have already rejected the lopsided election and they will boycott the voting as well.

The BNP leader also questioned the justification of holding such an unacceptable election by spending several thousand crores of taka when the country’s economy and financial institutions are in dire straits.

“We urge the government to stop this expenditure on this illegal election...it can’t be called an election where all candidates belong to Awami League. We don‍‍`t want such an election,” he said.

The BNP leader said their party wants such an election where the people can freely exercise their right to vote and elect their representatives.

As part of their three-day countrywide programme, Nazrul along with some leaders and workers of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal conducted a mass campaign and distributed leaflets among the pedestrians near Sonali Bank in the Motijheel area.