JS polls to be free, fair

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the next general elections would be free and fair, and her party would accept the people's mandate.
"People will cast their votes in the polls for their favourite candidates, and we will accept the results," she told a function after inaugurating the 3.1-km Kuril flyover in the capital.
Hasina said votes belonged to people and they would exercise their franchise freely.
"What can we do if people cast their votes for the corrupt and terrorists, ignoring patriots and honest candidates? We have nothing to say."
She urged people to cast their votes in favour of patriots and honest, pro-development candidates.
Referring to the elections held under the current government, Hasina said no one could raise any question about those polls.
"In the recent elections to five city corporations, our candidates were defeated despite being the ruling party-backed hopefuls,” she said, adding that the government did not try to win the polls through ballot rigging.
Referring to the opposition leader's speech on governing the country 'in a new way', Hasina said the opposition leader would, in fact, run the country by opening a new 'Hawa Bhaban'.
Terming the Kuril flyover a new milestone in the development of Dhaka city's communication network, she urged all to protect the environment of the capital.
Earlier, Hasina inaugurated the Purbachal Balu Bridge over the River Balu in Rupganj. The four-lane bridge was her Eid gift to the people in the area, she said.
With the construction of the 300-meter-wide Kuril Purbachal Link Road and the opening of Balu Bridge to traffic would raise the living standards of Rupganj people, she added.
Hasina also assured the locals of providing necessary compensation for their lands in the Purbachal project area.
Post and Telecommunications Minister Shahara Khatun and State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan, among others, spoke on the occasion.