No objection over rescheduling Dhaka City polls: AL

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 17:14, Jan 17, 2020 | Updated : 17:21, Jan 17, 2020

General Secretary Obaidul Quader is addressing media at the party chief’s Dhanmondi offices in Dhaka on Friday (Jan 17).Amid the growing demand for rescheduling the Dhaka city elections as the voting falls on the day of the Saraswati Puja, now ruling Awami League (AL) has said it has no objection over the issue.
“The decision is up to the Election Commission (EC),” General Secretary Obaidul Quader told the media after a secretarial meeting at the party chief’s Dhanmondi offices in Dhaka on Friday (Jan 17).
The senior AL leader hoped that EC would come to a reasonable conclusion through talks.
“The EC schedules polls. How come the government is responsible for that?” asked Quader before ruling out Oikya Front chief Kamal Hossain’s remarks on polls date.
Coming down on BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's allegation over vote-rigging through use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Quader said that Fakhrul himself "was elected in Bogura-6 where EVMs, too, were used."
On a report of Human Rights Watch claiming the absence of freedom of speech in Bangladesh, Quader asked rhetorically, “Is any country in the world has freedom of opposition’s speech as we do?”
“No BNP leader has been arrested, charged in lawsuit or faced action over their frequent abusive remarks targeting ruling party leaders including its chief Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” he argued.
Quader, who is the road transport minister, ruled out the rights body’s observation describing it as “irrational and fictitious.”
He also warned AL’s rebel candidates in Dhaka City polls of actions if they refused to step back from the contest.

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