Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General and coordinator of the 11-party alliance AHM Hamidur Rahman Azad on Thursday questioned the holding of a BNP meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in the Secretariat to select its candidate for the presidential election.
“The Secretariat is an executive place. A top-level political meeting has been held there! We are not aware of any such precedent. Yet they are doing it. So how do they view democracy?” he said.
Fakhrul nominated as BNP’s presidential candidate
Azad made the remark while talking to reporters after the nomination paper of Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed, the presidential candidate of the 11-party alliance, was submitted to Chief Election Commissioner and presidential election officer AMM Nasir Uddin in the city’s Nirbachan Bhaban.
In this time, the Jamaat leader also referred to a recent remark by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, saying that there had been no change from the past in the administration over the last five or six months of the current government.
Azad said the 11-party alliance is contesting the presidential election despite lacking a majority in parliament in order to uphold the “beauty of democracy” and restore democratic practices to the right track. “We want to create a new trend in democratic practice in Bangladesh,” he said.
Referring to the 1991 presidential election, Azad said there had been a possibility of a competitive contest then because the BNP did not have a parliamentary majority. “There is not even that possibility now, as the BNP has already ensured its majority through its own tactics. So they are on the safe side,” he said.
“This is not about whether we will win or lose. We do not want any election to be held without a contest. That is the beauty of democracy. We have taken this decision to restore democracy to the right track,” he added.
Describing Oli Ahmed as a decorated freedom fighter, Azad said he was a nationally respected figure who had remained above controversy and had made significant contributions to the country over a long period.
“The nation is viewing this positively and appreciating the decision of our 11-party alliance,” he said.
However, he said constitutional provisions (Article 70 of the Constitution that bars MPs to cross the floor) had created an obstacle to democratic practice in the presidential election.
Under Article 70 of the Constitution, lawmakers cannot vote against their party’s decision.
Azad claimed that the BNP could have introduced secret-ballot voting for the presidential election (bringing change in the Article 70).
He said implementation of the July Charter would have led to an amendment to Article 70, allowing MPs to vote independently in the presidential election.
The Jamaat leader claimed that the reform has not been implemented due to what he described as the BNP’s “stubbornness” and “narrow partisan interests” after the February 12 election.
Asked about expelled Jamaat MP Gazi Nazrul Islam of Satkhira-4, Azad said MPs would have to vote according to Article 70 as long as the provision remained unchanged in the Constitution.
A delegation of the opposition alliance, led by Azad, submitted the nomination paper to Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin at 11:49am.
In the nomination paper, Jamaat Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman MP proposed Oli Ahmed as the Presidential candidate, while NCP lawmaker Abdullah Al Amin seconded the proposal.
The delegation members include Jamaat MPs Nurul Islam Bulbul, Nazibur Rahman, Mardia Momtaz, NCP chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari, NCP MPs Abdullah Al Amin and Mahmuda Mitu; Labour Party Chairman Mostafizur Rahman Iran and Jagpa Vice-President Rashed Pradhan.