Jamaat wants local govt elections too under caretaker govt: Taher

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Tuesday proposed that both national and local government elections be held under a non-partisan caretaker government.

"Our proposal is that both national and local elections must take place under a caretaker government," Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told reporters during the lunch break of the second round of talks with the National Consensus Commission.

Jamaat-e-Islami also proposed amending Article 70 of the Constitution to allow MPs to vote beyond their respective party lines except on issues related to finance bill, vote of no confidence and constitutional amendment.

But BNP, in its talks with the Commission, supported allowing MPs to vote beyond the party lines except the four matters that include the three matters and also issues of national importance.

When his attention was drawn on Jamaat's stance regarding Article 70, Taher said, "We've shared our views on the three proposed exceptions regarding Article 70."

The second day of the second round of talks began at 11am with Commission Chairman Ali Riaz in the chair.

Nearly 30 parties, including BNP, Jamaat, and the National Citizen Party (NCP), joined Tuesday's session.

On Monday, Chief Adviser and Commission Chairman Muhammad Yunus opened the second phase of the dialogue.

The Consensus Commission started its first round of talks with political parties on 20 March last to forge a national consensus on state reform initiatives undertaken by the interim government.