Dhaka: Amid a low voter turnout and an election marred by violence, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan spoke to ABP Live on the boycott of the general elections by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) saying that the party was afraid of the polls knowing that they would lose. He said this in the context of the BNP not participating in the 12th National Parliamentary Election.
“BNP has taken a strategy of boycotting the election with various excuses and demands. They participated in the 2018 election and got some parliamentary seats, but this year they did not participate in the election knowing they would be defeated,” he said.
He said this after visiting the capital’s Moghbazar Ispahani school polling station around noon from where he is contesting.
He added that the BNP was involved in killing people and arson just as they did in 2014. “People do not want such torture and violence. So they are coming to the polling stations in a festive mood,” he said.
Voting for the 12th parliamentary election is underway across the country with some stray incidents of violence. In the elections, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina intends to seek re-election for the fourth consecutive time and is poised to clinch victory.
The voting began at 8 am on Sunday and will continue until 4pm non-stop in 299 out of the country’s 300 constituencies.
Voting in the Naogaon-2 constituency was postponed following the death of an independent candidate, according to the Election Commission.
Around 1,895 candidates, including 382 independent candidates, are contesting the general election.
Out of 44 political parties registered with the Election Commission, 18 are out of the electoral race. There are 11,96,89,289 voters — 6,76,09,741 male, 5,89,18,699 female, and 849 transgender — who have voting rights across 260,856 booths at 42,024 polling stations in the constituencies, according to the Election Commission.
Seeking the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, the BNP had called a 48-hour nationwide general strike from Saturday, paving the way for her to return to power for the fourth straight term as the Prime Minister.