BNP rejects election schedule; says country now heading towards inevitable conflict

Rejecting the election schedule announced by the Election Commission, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi warned that the country was now headed towards "certain conflict."

"That an election can be held under this government is a complete lie. We reject this biased Election Commission," he said in a reaction to the schedule at a virtual press conference today (15 November). 

"I want to tell the Election Commission that the country has been pushed towards conflict. The country is headed for a certain conflict. Except for AL, for whom has this election schedule been announced?"

He said the EC was subservient to the AL, terming them "AL officials". 

"They have been working for the election of Awami League," he said.

He said the people were ready to give an intelligent reply.

The BNP has been conducting a movement to ensure that the next election is held under a caretaker government.

On 28 October, the BNP announced a rally in the Nayapaltan area to push home its demand for elections to be held under a caretaker government.

The rally was suspended midway by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul, who also announced a hartal for the next day.
On the next day, Fakhrul was arrested by police.

This was followed by the arrests of other BNP leaders, including Amir Khosru and Moazzem Hussain.

The BNP hartal and the subsequent blockades it announced in the following days were joined by the Jamaat-e-Islami and other parties, who held similar demands.

The Parliament in 2011 abolished the caretaker government system allowing general elections under elected partisan governments.

The BNP condemned the move and said it was akin to "throwing the country into a political confrontation".