BNP's position surprising

WE are astonished at the demand made by the BNP chairperson for the resignation of the election commissioners. It is regrettable, coming as it does at a time when in the public perception the political parties were moving full steam ahead towards election. Her contention is that the election commissioners are not neutral since, according to her, they are speaking in favour of a particular party.
What, may we ask, is the basis of her assertion that indeed the commission is speaking in favour of the Awami League? We are not aware of any reason given by the BNP chairperson in support of the allegation leveled against the election commissioners. These unsubstantiated comments are hardly expected of a political leader of her standing. We feel she should let the public in on the reasons behind her allegation.
We wonder whether the BNP chairperson realises the implications of her demand. With so few days left for the polls it is a destabilising position to take, one that could be perceived as an attempt to put the election in jeopardy. Does it not also reflect a sense of immaturity on the part of the person making such a demand?
Khaleda Zia's comments come in the wake of similar demands of two of her party and alliance colleagues, calling for the resignation of the CEC. The latter stem from the statement of the CEC to the effect that the EC is working to give the country an election like that of 1970. We cannot understand why such a remark has been made so much of -- unnecessarily. We feel that nobody in the right frame of mind could disagree that the 1970 election was the most fair and transparent election in the annals of our election history, which even the Pakistani establishment had to acknowledge, but which regrettably two of Khaleda's colleagues do not hesitate to question.
In spite of many constraints, the EC has managed to get an authentic voter list with photograph ready in the stipulated time, having been able to purge almost 13 million false names that had crept in, in the old one. It has reformulated an RPO that has many new provisions including that of party registration. Is it the EC's fault that some political parties had failed to meet the initial deadline for submission of registration application? As for the emergency, we see the logic in the call for doing away with it, but that is a matter which the political parties should iron out with the government. As for delimitation of constituencies, the EC stands ready to implement the court's decision. So, why the reservations?
In all, we find the demand of the BNP chairperson rather indiscreet. If parties want to participate in an election that they are guaranteed to win, then regrettably, it is not democracy but power that they are after.