JS must be dissolved before polls
Say eminent citizens
The parliament must be dissolved before the next general polls to ensure a level playing field for contenders and to make the election free and fair, noted citizens said yesterday.
The government last year passed a constitutional amendment, according to which the next elections will be held within 90 days before the expiry of its tenure. This means all lawmakers will be holding office at the election time, raising doubts about the contestants having a level playing field.
Speakers at a discussion at the Liberation War Museum in the capital said all conscious people of the country were worried about the next polls with suspicions as to whether another military-backed government would take over power or whether the country would plunge into an anarchic situation.
Sammilita Samajik Andolan organised the discussion titled "Next election: perspective and democratic trends" with Prof Ajoy Roy in the chair.
The ruling party and the opposition should reach a consensus on polls mechanism, said Khandaker Ibrahim Khaled, chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank.
The main opposition BNP has been demanding that the present parliament be replaced by a non-party neutral government to oversee the polls.
Reading out the keynote paper, SM Masum Billah, assistant professor of the law department of Jagannath University, said the government must scrap the constitutional amendment.
Former High Court Justice Kazi Ebadul Haque said the ministers could resign three months before the election time when a new parliament would run the country, an idea very close to what the BNP has been demanding.
Barrister M Amir-ul Islam, an expert in constitution, said no military government should be allowed to take power in the name of caretaker government. He requested the government to give organisational and financial freedom to Election Commission.
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