Stating that no election will be held in Bangladesh unless under a non-party neutral government, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said the current Awami League regime is afraid of fair elections.

“Awami League fears credible elections. Awami League does not want to leave power and that is why it is afraid of fair and impartial elections. This is a cowardly government,” he said.

Speaking at a massive youth rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, the BNP leader said most opposition parties, including Jatiya Party and CPB, have been saying no fair election is possible under the Awami League government, UNB reports.

He said the government’s main target is to prevent the people from joining the election by establishing a reign of terror through intimidation.

“They won’t rig votes this time in the darkness of night as they have come up with a new strategy by appointing all the DCs and SPs as per their choice. Their aim is to stuff ballots in broad daylight to manipulate the election this time,” Fakhrul said.

He warned that no such plot or evil design would work this time. “There will be no election in this country without a neutral non-partisan caretaker government.”

Alongside BNP, Fakhrul said 36 parties simultaneously announced that the next election must be held under a neutral government.

“So, this Sheikh Hasina regime must resign immediately,” he reiterated.

He said Awami League will not get even 'ten seats' if the national election is held in a free and fair manner.

The BNP leader once again urged the government to quit, dissolve parliament and hand over power to a neutral administration to arrange the next polls under an impartial election commission.

He alleged that the government has been filing ‘false’ cases against opposition leaders and activists to keep them away from elections due to its fear of fair polls.

Referring to a media report, Fakhrul said the government has again started filing ‘phantom’ cases (gayebi) against opposition leaders as it did before the last election in 2018: “They have taken another evil strategy to convict our popular elders by accelerating the trial process of the case filed against them.”

He said Awami League has been in power illegally by rigging votes and snatching the people’s right to vote. “This illegitimate regime usurped power violating the constitution and stealing votes during the elections in 2014 and 2018.”

The BNP leader said the recent by-polls to Dhaka-17 exposed how the election will be held under the Awami League government.

Fakhrul regretted that the ruling party attacked a simple and young candidate like Hero Alam: “He (Alam) joined the by-polls with a hope that at least he would be allowed to stay in the vote…but Awami League is a terrorist party that can’t tolerate anyone else. They can't bear to have anyone contest against them in elections.”

Terming the government as ‘anti-state’, he said people are going through immense suffering due to the rise in prices of all essential items amid widespread corruption and plundering and laundering of money abroad by the ruling party men.

He said the government is telling the foreigners that they will hold good elections but they are resorting to evil designs and various plots to keep the opposition leaders and activists away from polls.

The BNP leader slammed the government for its failure to control the dengue outbreak in the country or ensuring proper treatment for the affected people.

Expressing his happiness over the huge participation in the youth rally, Fakhrul urged the youths to play a pivotal role in making the one-point movement a success: “It's a rare rally of youth for the restoration of democracy and the lost rights of people. I’m inspired by the rally as the youth of the country have taken to the streets as people did in 1971.”

Three BNP associate bodies--Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, Chhatra Dal, and Swechchasebak Dal--arranged the rally with the main objective of involving the young generation in the street movement to establish their rights.

The three organisations earlier held five youth rallies and got a huge response from the young people.