Social media BNP’s last resort to dissuade voters
The BNP has adopted a strategy of using social media to discourage voters from casting ballots in today's election, said party sources.
The party leaders and activists have been instructed to take out flash processions and take to the streets to enforce the ongoing 48-hour hartal.
The party has also asked its former lawmakers and the prospective MP candidates to deploy people at every polling centre to capture irregularities with cameras and share footage on social media.
"The lower the voter turnout, the less credible the election will be," said a BNP standing committee member who is aware of the party's social media strategy.
He said the BNP rank and file will not go to the polling centres, but some people who are not BNP men will capture with cameras the irregularities at polling centres.
The BNP and like-minded political parties are boycotting today's national polls saying that a free and fair election is not possible under the Awami League government. The party has called a non-cooperation movement to protest against the general election being held under the incumbent government.
The party has been distributing leaflets among people to discourage them from going to the polling centres. It is also enforcing a nationwide 48-hour hartal, which began at 6:00am yesterday.
"We call upon the democracy-loving voters to boycott the polls. This one single decision of yours will spell doom for the fascist government," Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of the BNP, said at a virtual press briefing yesterday.
Party leaders believe violence between the supporters of the ruling AL candidates and those of the independents will occur in many places, which will impact the voter turnout.
"Video footage of those incidents will be published on social media. This will have an impact on the voters' mind too which will reduce the turnout," said a BNP leader, wishing anonymity.
Another party leader said although the BNP is boycotting the polls, a team will collect election-related information to prepare a report on the polls.
A monitoring cell has been set up to coordinate the collection of information and the BNP will brief the media on its findings after the voting ends, said sources.
The party will send copies of a detailed report on the election with documents to all foreign embassies and missions in Dhaka.
Although the BNP is enforcing hartal, its grassroots have been asked not to engage in any violence or confrontation with the law enforcers and the ruling party men.
Party sources said the ongoing hartal, which will end at 6:00am tomorrow, may be extended for another day rejecting the polls results.
The BNP standing committee, the highest policymaking body of the party, will meet tonight to decide its next course of action, the sources added.
The party boycotted the January 5, 2014, polls demanding election under a non-party interim government. It, however, ran in the 2018 polls but won only a few seats. Those two elections drew huge criticism from different quarters at home and abroad over widespread irregularities.