Desk Report,
Who will Awami League supporters vote for?
After a private meeting between BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus in London, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said that they will fix the election date after receiving instructions from the government.
Who will Awami League supporters vote for?
He paid a courtesy call on the Chief Advisor at the Jamuna State Guest House on Thursday. Quoting a source in the Chief Advisor’s office, Prothom Alo reported that the two had a ‘one-to-one (private)’ meeting. As a result, nothing is known about what was discussed there.
It is believed that the Election Commission has received instructions from the government. Earlier, when the Chief Advisor announced the election in the first half of April in his address to the nation, most parties, including the BNP, opposed it.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) is preparing for the next national elections. They want to complete the purchase of all the election materials required for the elections by September. EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said, “It is necessary to start the process of printing 21 types of forms, 17 types of packets, five types of identity cards, code of conduct, posters of symbols, election management manual, training manual and guidelines, etc., ahead of the national parliament elections.
The EC is preparing to announce the schedule in December, ahead of the national parliament elections by next February.
The interim government wants the elections to be held based on the consensus of the political parties. For this purpose, a national consensus commission headed by the chief advisor has also been formed. But despite holding meetings, they are unable to agree on basic issues. They are unable to agree on the basic principles of the constitution, the national constitutional committee, the election method of the president and the upper house. BNP has accepted the proposal of the Constitutional Reform Commission that a person can remain in the post of prime minister for a maximum of 10 years, subject to conditions. They have said that there cannot be a national constitutional committee. The left parties are against changing the basic principles of the state. The Islamic parties are against pluralism. BNP wants to go back to the situation before the 15th Amendment. However, consensus has been established on some issues, including the balance of power between the President and the Prime Minister, and changes to Article 70 of the Constitution.
Due to the lack of consensus among most political parties, it has been proposed to form a ‘Constitutional and Statutory Institution Appointments Committee’ instead of the National Constitutional Council (NCC). The committee will only handle the appointment process of constitutional and statutory institutions. The appointment of the Attorney General and the heads of the three services will not be included in this committee. BNP is also not willing to accept this. BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed complained in a meeting on Thursday that the National Consensus Commission wants to weaken the executive branch.
Despite the debate on constitutional reforms, all parties are preparing for elections at the grassroots level, and that is for the National Parliament. Now, the talk of a constituent assembly, the formulation of a new constitution, and a referendum is not heard loudly. Again, they are also announcing in advance who will get how many seats. An NCP leader said that they will get 300 seats out of 400 seats. In response, some BNP leaders are saying that NCP will not have any collateral.
