BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today spoke at Gulshan. Photo : BSS

DHAKA, Jan 14, 2025 (BSS) - BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said there is no question of holding local government elections before the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) polls.
 
"We want parliament elections first," he told a press conference at the party chairperson's Gulshan office in the capital while disclosing decisions taken in the BNP's National Standing Committee meeting held last night (Monday).

Mirza Fakhrul urged the interim government to take initiatives to hold the national elections within July-August of this year.

"There is no alternative to an elected government. This is the most important issue for democracy. We think that holding the election is possible in the middle of this year by July-August," he said.

He also sought Election Commission's measures and all other political parties' preparations in holding the national election around the middle of this year in the greater interest of the country.

Referring to the detailed discussions on the national elections at last night's meeting chaired by BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, Mirza Fakhrul said the statement of the chief adviser on the elections was that the elections will be held by the end of this year or in the middle of next year 2026.

"There was a long discussion on this issue in the BNP standing committee yesterday. We think that there is no reason to delay it so much," he said.

The BNP secretary general said holding the election is possible in a very short time as the Election Commission has already been formed, there is quite stability in governance and the report of the commission regarding reforms for holding the election will come on Wednesday.

"So, it seems that there is no reason for delaying the elections. Because, the more the elections are delayed, the more the political and economic crises increase," he said.

In response to a question about BNP's participation in the local government elections, Mirza Fakhrul said, "Our clear decision regarding the local government elections is that there is no question of local government elections before the national elections. Because, now the focus of the entire country and the entire nation is on the national elections."

The BNP secretary general said people could not exercise their voting rights in the last three national elections, that's why they want to complete the path to democracy through elections.

"You have to understand that local government does not run the country. The national parliament runs the country, the national parliament enacts laws, the main thing in democracy is the national parliament, if it is effective, democracy becomes functional," he observed.
BNP Standing Committee Member Dr. Abdul Moyeen Khan said the grassroots level of local government is the Union Parishad but the government has not yet scrapped that current Union Parishads.

"If those are not abolished, how will the local government elections be held?" he said.

Mirza Fakhrul said there are several formalities for the election, such as the voter list.

 "This voter list is ready. Preparing the voter list is not supposed to take a long time.

 If someone wants to update it within a month, it can be done. After that, various tasks, including the appointment of the presiding officers, should not take more than one or two months. Everything is ready."

He said the Election Commission has also mentioned that it remains ready to hold the national election.

 "They have clearly said that two elections (local and national) are not possible at the same time.

Therefore, the national election is needed in the interest of the nation," he added.

Stating that reforms are an ongoing process, the BNP Secretary General said, "We prepared the outline of reforms first. We have presented it to the nation. In 2016, we gave 'Vision-2030', in 2023 we gave a 31-point outline for state reforms."