Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has categorically said the next general election in Bangladesh will be held in time and the democratic process will be continued.

“People are the sole owners of their votes, they will cast their votes whoever they like. Whoever gets the verdict from the people will form the government,” she said.

The prime minister said this while addressing at a civic reception accorded to her at Hilton Hotel here on Thursday.

Bangladesh is due to go to polls either in December this year or in next January at the end of the five-year term of the current Awami League government.

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The country’s main opposition BNP has vowed to boycott the vote saying it will be rigged in favour of the incumbent, an allegation denied by the government.

The opposition party instead demands that Hasina’s government resigns to pave the way for a neutral administration to hold the polls. The government rejects it as unconstitutional.

PM Hasina said that as BNP knew it very well that they would not get any vote from people for their evil deeds, they are now looking for ways to back out from the election process.

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“Generally they are the party of thieves and vote rigging, and it is not possible for them to come to power without vote dacoity,” she said.

She mentioned that in the past they grabbed state power accepting external pressure to sell the resources of the country.

“So people do not want them anymore and for that reason they do not get votes from the people, so they are searching for holes to backtrack from the election,” she said.

Regarding BNP’s repeated threat to topple the government, Hasina, who is also the chief of the ruling Awami League, said that her government is not that much weak.

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“There was a commotion regarding December 10 that they will oust the government (on that day). But we can’t be toppled as we have people with us, our power is our people,” she said.

Talking about the demand of BNP to form a caretaker government during the election period, she said a totally independent election commission has been established.

“BNP is still raising their demand for the caretaker government,” she said.

“Has BNP now become insane or a child?” Hasina asked referring to what BNP leader Khaleda Zia once said as the country’s prime minister in response to then opposition Awami League’s demand for a caretaker government to hold election in the 1990s.

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“By bringing those thieves to power, by bringing the anti-independence force to power, by bringing murderers, we will not allow Bangladesh to bow down to others,” she asserted.

She said that to cover up their own weakness BNP now spreading various types of propaganda and making dirty tricks.

“Will those who killed people in broad daylight, looted public money, committed corruption and were convicted in corruption cases, now go to power? The main thing whether they will go to elections by selecting that convicted person as their leader,” she said in obvious reference to BNP vice-chairman Tareq Zia, now living in London.

Referring to the sacrifices of Awami League leaders and activists for the establishment of democracy, the prime minister said, 'The democratic trend that has been established in Bangladesh today is the result of our movement. My party leaders and workers have given their lives for this. And I narrowly survived a grenade attack.”

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Highlighting the benefits of the continuation of democracy Hasina said, "The country has changed because the democratic trend has been unhindered, today the country has developed, today Bangladesh has occupied a dignified seat in the world."

Reiterating her determination to build a smart Bangladesh, Hasina said that the country will move forward with the status it has got today.

“We will build the hunger-poverty-free, advanced and prosperous smart golden Bangla of the father of the nation by 2041."

Appreciating the role of expatriates in any crisis in Bangladesh, the pime minister said that remittances sent by expatriates play a huge role in the country's economy.

She urged the expatriates to send money through the legal channels instead of through hundi.

He advised those interested in going abroad to be aware and careful about brokers. At the same time, Hasina urged then to register and go abroad in a legal way.