N'ganj by-poll farcical

Terming Thursday's Narayanganj-5 by-election farcical, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said it was again proved that free and fair elections were not possible under the Sheikh Hasina government.
“The whole process in the Narayanganj-5 by-polls was unacceptable because it was farcical,” he told reporters at the party's Nayapaltan central office in the capital, two days after Jatiya Party's Selim Osman, brother of Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman, won the by-election.
The BNP spokesperson said people's will was not reflected in the by-election, which is marked by allegations of fake votes.
“How could people go to polling centres to vote when the prime minister openly announced in parliament that she was taking the responsibility of the Osman's family?” Fakhrul said.
About prime minister's criticism that BNP was depending on foreign powers for returning to power instead of relying on the country's people, the BNP leader said Khaleda Zia's meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was a mere courtesy call of the latter, and the two discussed bilateral issues and ways to resolve those.
“It's out of question that BNP made any complaint about the country's internal issues. Rather, it was Awami League that used to complain to foreigners during the past BNP-led government.”
Asked about Khaleda's telling Sushma that there was no democracy in Bangladesh, he said that what the BNP chief said was nothing but “a statement of fact”.
And naturally the BNP chief hoped that India as the world's largest democracy would play roles in restoring democracy in its neighbour--Bangladesh.