As soon as the general election in Bangladesh comes close, there has been a fierce debate among the major political parties about the need for reforms before the elections.
A report by Bangladesh’s The Dhaka Tribune states that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), radical Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami and newly formed National Citizens Party (NCP) are attacking each other as soon as the elections approached.
BNP general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir while addressing a press conference on Monday (July 14, 2025) said that 43 -year -old scrap trader Lal Chand Sohag in Mitford, Old Dhaka, is conspired to create disturbance in the country and fulfill the wrong political motives.
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Salimuddin lashed out at BNP without naming during a rally in Mirpur, Dhaka. He said that the public had already shown the Yellow card to BNP and showed ‘Red Card’ after the Mitford incident.
Mohammad Salimuddin lashed out at BNP and said, ‘The August rebellion gave BNP a golden opportunity. He could train his workers for moral values and guide them to follow Islamic discipline, but instead they made the country a base of extortion. His current slogan looks like reward, denying on forcibly recovering.
The NCP reiterated its call for reforms and national reconstruction. However, BNP has constantly rejected this demand. According to BNP, the idea of ‘reform before election’ will not give significant results, while NCP has raised the demand for electoral reforms and national reconstruction at a rally on Tuesday night.
NCP leader Hasanat Abdullah condemned political parties at a rally on Tuesday night. He said, ‘When we speak against forced recovery, a party gets angry. When we accuse them of rigging in voting, the other party gets angry.
Hasanat Abdullah accused the Election Commission of favoritism when the Election Commission included the boat election symbol of the Awami League on its official website. However, NCP leader Hasanat Abdullah had accused the EC of bias, demanding the removal of the election symbol of the Awami League’s boat from the list of commission immediately. After this, the commission removed the boat sign from the website.
He also criticized the NCP not to give the Shapla (Water Lily) mark to the NCP after opposition from an EC member and questioned the effectiveness of the online enrollment process. He said, ‘A fair election is not possible under this commission.’ He resolved to oppose EC politically and at the rally, the speakers reiterated the demand for restructuring the commission.
Meanwhile, BNP dismissed the argument of justice and reform before the election of Muhammad Yunus -led interim government. BNP says that now they will not accept further delays in the name of infrastructure reforms. Abdul Moin Khan, a member of BNP’s Standing Committee, said in the new party recruitment and renewal campaign last week that now the only priority is to give people the right to vote through independent and fair elections.
He said, ‘BNP will no longer accept the logic of’ first justice and reform, then election ‘. He further said, ‘Justice and reform is a continuous process. The main responsibility of the interim government is the restoration of democracy and for this, the power will have to be handed over to the people through the early elections.