Bangladesh Nationalist Party – BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday (Apr 16) said their party wants the national election by December this year. "If national elections are not held by December, the situation in the country will worsen and it will be very difficult to control the situation," he told reporters after holding a meeting with the Chief Adviser of the interim government Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus at state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka, local media reported.
Earlier, at 12:15 p.m., the BNP secretary general and seven members of the party's standing committee met with the Chief Adviser. After a two-and-a-half-hour meeting, the BNP secretary general came out of the Jumuna and spoke to reporters at around 2:00 p.m. Various issues, including the election roadmap, economic situation, withdrawal of political cases and the trial process of Sheikh Hasina, were discussed in this meeting.
BNP standing committee members Jamir Uddin Sirkar, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku were present at the meeting.
The BNP secretary general said, "The chief adviser did not give us a specific dateline for the election. Today, he told us that he wants to complete the election between December (2025) and June (2026)."
In response to a question from journalists, Mirza Fakhrul said the Chief Adviser did not tell them that polls would not be held in December, but he (Chief Adviser) has taken time until June. "We have made it clear that our 'cutoff time is December," he added.
Regarding the content of the discussion with the chief adviser at the meeting, Mirza Fakhrul said, "The main topic of our discussion was the specific roadmap for the elections, which we have been talking about for some time. I spoke to him about that. We said we believe that the problems here will have to be resolved through a quick and acceptable election."
"You know that at the same time, we are fully cooperating with the reform commissions and the initiatives taken by the government. We have given our opinions to the reform commissions a few days ago. We have a meeting tomorrow," he said.
In response to a question about what BNP will do if there is no election in December, Mirza Fakhrul said, "We will come before you again and discuss within the party and with our other allied parties and decide what to do."
Stating that the July charter will be held on the basis of consensus, the BNP secretary general said, "We have made it very clear that we are ready to make a charter with all the parties on the issues on which there will be consensus. Then we can move towards the elections. And the remaining reforms, on which we will agree, will be definitely implemented by those who will be elected. That was our main point."
During the meeting, the BNP delegation handed over a letter to the chief adviser with suggestions and opinions about what to do in the current situation of the country.
