Nasiruddin Patwary, chief coordinator of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has warned of boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections. He said, “The EC is trying in various ways to prevent the participation of all political parties except a specific party in the upcoming parliamentary elections. If this situation continues, we will be forced to launch a movement and demand the restructuring of the Election Commission in light of the July Charter.”
He said this after meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) at the Election Commission Secretariat in Agargaon in the capital on Sunday (August 3) morning.

Calling the Election Commission (EC) a ‘spineless institution wearing the uniform of a single party’, Nasiruddin Patwary said, what happened in the last 15 years is that people were not able to vote. In the future Bangladesh, if no one other than a party in the democratic process comes to vote, they (EC or a party) will create problems. But the Election Commission is heading towards such a situation.

The necessary amendment papers for NCP’s registration have been submitted to the EC, and the party is expecting to be allotted the Shapla symbol. In addition, the NCP chief coordinator demanded that online briefings be organised every 15 days to inform about the regular progress of the Election Commission’s activities to ensure the voting rights of expatriate Bangladeshis.

A four-member delegation led by Nasiruddin Patwari went to the EC at around 12:30 pm on Sunday. The delegation also included southern region chief organiser Hasnat Abdullah, joint convener Khaled Saifullah, and joint member secretary Zahirul Islam Musa.

Earlier, the Election Commission had scrutinised the registration applications of 144 new political parties, including the NCP, and issued a letter regarding the information deficiency. In the case of NCP, six issues were identified. These included, list of district and upazila committees, office rental agreement, source and amount of funds, signature of the executive committee’s decision, certification that the party constitution is not against the constitution, and mention of the panel system in candidate nomination.