The Awami League has urged the Election Commission (EC) not to defer the schedule of the 11th general election, now slated for Dec 30, as some political parties are out to foil the polls.

"You [EC] have deferred the election thrice already; but you should not delay the election again even for a day or for an hour," said HT Imam, co-chairman of the ruling party’s National Election Conducting Committee, at a media briefing after a meeting between a 12-member Awami League team and the commission officials, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda, at the Election Commission office in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Wednesday (Nov 15).
Saying that people are not realising the implications of delaying election, HT Imam, said, “Election was held in the past on Dec 29 and, at that time, no one raised any issues.”

The notion that no observer will come if the election is on Dec 30 is ludicrous, he observed.

There isn’t any country in the world which fixes the day of the election, taking into consideration the convenience of foreigners, said HT Imam.

“If the election is held after Jan 1 then several lakh people will become voters and they may foil the polls by lodging a writ in court if not registered as voters.”

He also underlined the massive nationwide work of distributing textbooks at the beginning of the year.

Denouncing the police car burning by BNP activists in Naya Palatan, he said, “This is a blatant violation of election time conduct.”

This is reminiscent of the arson cases between 2013 and 2015. Over the death of two persons in a clash between opposing AL factions in Dhanmondi, he said, “That was a confrontation resulting from a car race and had nothing to do with elections.”