Zainul Abdin Farroque, adviser to the BNP chairperson, said that except for two to three political parties, all other parties are in agreement on the need for elections. Farroque said: “BNP was the first party in this country to stand up against fascism. Why are you neglecting BNP? Among those who are not in agreement, some are yet to receive registration, while others are in the process of regaining it. I say—get your registration and serve the country. We pray for you—may your prayers help Dr Yunus understand that an election is urgently needed.”He made the remarks as the chief guest at a discussion titled “Democracy and Voting Rights”, organized by Jatiyatabadi Projonmo 71 at the National Press Club’s Akram Khan Hall on Tuesday.

He said: “If there is no election, and no parliament, we cannot talk about corridors, we cannot discuss ports—these are matters we are supposed to address in parliament. We are supposed to talk about restoring law and order in parliament. If the budget includes whitening of black money, we are to discuss that in parliament. To address all of these issues, we need a parliament right now. Because yours is not an elected government—it is a revolutionary government. We trusted you with power, so please honour that trust and hold elections in December.”

Farroque added: “Reforms should not take long; there are many examples of this in Bangladesh’s history. It was Ziaur Rahman who first introduced multi-party reforms, which established multi-party democracy in the country. Did that take long? Even Shahabuddin was able to hold an election within three months. And you—nine months have already gone by.”