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BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Tuesday (9 January) said though the government was complacent with a one-party election, the people spontaneously boycotted the voting.
Talking to reporters while conducting a mass campaign in the city's Kamalapur area, he also said their party will continue their street agitation until the restoration of people's voting rights.
"They (govt) have shown a thumb to the people by holding such an election and playing games in the name of voting. The people spontaneously boycotted the voting, no matter how complacent the government was with a unilateral election," Rizvi said.
He said only those who belong to the ruling party and their cohorts were there in the election race. "It was seen that they've stamped ballots themselves, fought each other in different places, indulged in violence and killed and injured each other in the empty polling stations in the absence of voters."
Rizvi said BNP and like-minded parties have congratulated the country's people at all levels as they boycotted polls, braving all threats and intimidations by the government.
"We would like to unequivocally say that we are on the streets, with the people, and we'll be there on the streets until the people's right to vote is restored. Of course, we'll bring back the people's voting rights," he said.
Rizvi along with some BNP leaders and workers conducted the mass contact by distributing leaflets near Kamalapur Railway Station, demanding the resignation of the current government, holding a fresh election under a non-party neutral government and the release of BNP leaders and workers, including its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Earlier on Monday (8 January), BNP announced a two-day mass contact programme on Tuesday and Wednesday (10 January) to drum up public support in favour of the party's demand for a fresh election under a non-party polls-time government to establish a legitimate and accountable government.
Messenger/Sun Yath
