Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad says he has doubts whether the talks between the government and Dr Kamal Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Front can yield any outcome.

“It’s not possible to accept any of their seven demands. They want Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, dissolving parliament, which are not possible. So the talks will be a failure,” he said on Thursday.

The former military dictator, who now serves as the special envoy to the PM, made the remarks while speaking to the media in his hometown Rangpur.

“Will Sheikh Hasina step down? They have come up with several unconstitutional demands, which cannot be accepted,” he said.

Describing the BNP as ‘leaderless’, Ershad said the party is now riding on the back of Kamal Hossain. “They have launched Oikya Front with Dr Kamal. I doubt whether the BNP will at all take part in the election.”

Jatiya Party, the opposition in parliament, is the only party in Bangladesh capable of fielding candidates in all 300 constituencies, Ershad said before adding: “But I have apprehensions whether the upcoming election will be a free and fair one.”

Ershad said he has reservations over using electronic voting machines (EVM). “I have been against the use of EVMs from the very beginning as it creates room for rigging. And that’s why I will request the government to not go for it.”

Earlier in the day, the Jatiya Party chairman arrived at the Syedpur airport, where he was received by party leaders and activists. He then went to Rangpur by road.