Plan for partisan polls a conspiracy

The plan to make the local government elections partisan is a strategy to send BNP's demand for a fresh national election to the backburner, party spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon said yesterday.

Moreover, the current political circumstances are not suitable for the change, he told a press conference at the Nayapaltan office, referring to the sacking of some BNP-backed mayors and chairmen.

If the local government polls become partisan, BNP candidates will suffer more, he said.

It will be easier then for the government to remove BNP candidates from the polls, he added.     

Citing newspapers, Ripon said the government planned to introduce partisan election in the local polls in December and January.

He expressed his moral support to the system, but said the current situation did not permit the change.

He also demanded reform in the Election Commission before the local body polls, as "Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed-led EC has become biased and does not even have the ability to safeguard polling centres".

Meanwhile, BNP chief Khaleda Zia recalled the sacrifice of martyr Nazir Uddin Zehad who was killed during the anti-autocracy movement on October 10, 1990.