Jatiya Party not involved in sycophantic politics: Chunnu

Jatiya Party is not involved in sycophantic politics, it has its own political agendas, said the party's General Secretary Mujibul Haque Chunnu said while talking with the reporters after meeting Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal at the EC building on Thursday on participating in the Gaibandha by-election and zilla parishad election.

"A member of parliament from Gaibandha has died and his seat has been vacated. We have nominated a candidate for the election. Awami League has also nominated their candidate," he told the reporters.

"EVM would be used in that election. Although we are not in favour of using EVM, we will participate in it as we think that boycotting elections will weaken democracy."

Chunnu said, "However, we have demanded that we keep close circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the booths while using EVMs. If the election commission can conduct a fair election, it will generate some confidence among the people."

The general secretary of the party said that the zilla parishad elections are going on all over the country. "In the last zilla parishad election, our candidate beat the Awami League candidate in Gaibandha. We have nominated him for this year's election too."

The Jatiya Party general secretary also accused Awami League politicians of violating code of conduct in Gaibandha during campaign for zilla parishad election.

"We saw that the whip of the parliament went to Gaibandha and campaigned for their candidate by violating the code of conduct. Besides, Awami League leaders and activists vandalised the car of our candidate, insulted him and injured those who were with him. Police did not allow them to file a case against the attackers, only a GD was registered."

We have placed written complaints to the CEC on these issues, he said.

Mujibul Haque Chunnu also said, "The current election commissioners have a good will to conduct a fair and free election. We want to see its reflection in the zilla parishad elections and by-elections. But, so far, we have not seen any direct action from them."

However, the election commission has assured us that they will take action and we want to trust them. It is not possible to make elections fair in the current situation without changing the election system, he said.

He also commented on the council of the party called by Rowshan Ershad while talking with the reporters.

He said, "We have not called any council of the party. It does not matter who called the council from where."

"There is no rift in the Jatiya Party. One or two of our members were creating disorder inside the party. We have sacked them," he added.