Alleging that its supporters and candidates across the country are being attacked, the BNP has urged the Election Commission to initiate effective measures to ensure overall security.
“It seems that the BNP’s opponent is not the Awami League, but the police and other law enforcement agencies. They are proving security to the ministers and ruling MPs and arresting as well as harassing our supporters,” BNP Joint Secretary General Moazzam Hossain Alal told the media at the Commission’s offices.
His remarks came after the BNP lodged written complaints to the Election Commission (EC), where it called upon to take effective steps.
Alal said that the BNP’s candidate for Gazipur-5 Fazlul Haque Milon has been arrested.
“The stage for the Oikya Front rally at (Dhaka’s) Uttara has been vandalised. Similar incidents have been reported from across the country,” he added.
The BNP said in its letter to the EC that candidates of the party and its allies were being harassed and arrested and many of them are being attacked by the ruling party supporter during campaigns across the country.
Citing several instances of attacks carried out on their supporters, the BNP has urged the Commission to open legal actions against the attackers.
“The Election Commission will be held responsible if it does not act accordingly,” according to the letter signed by the party’s Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan.
BNP also asked the EC to ensure police protection for the candidates of the Jatiya Oikya Front alongside its own candidates.
In a separate letter, BNP mentioned that the party’s official website, bnpbangladesh.com, has been blocked for the last three days and urged the EC to take steps to unblock it.