Election roadmap: BNP rejects Yunus’ remarks, wants polls by December

Muhammad Yunus has been under fire for months due to his dubious plan to hold the next parliamentary election in mid-2026. Even though his address to the nation on Friday was the first time he mentioned the month, in the first half of April, the BNP reacted sharply to reject it outright.

Earlier, he used to say that elections would be held between December and June. Recently, his press wing said that the elections must be held before June 30.

But the BNP, the largest political ally of the interim government, and over 50 other political parties have been nonchalant about polls before December. Recently, the army chief also suggested that the elections have to be held by December for a democratic transition.

Only the Jamaat-e-Islami, AB Party and Yunus’ King’s party, Jatiya Nagorik Party, welcomed the announcement for polls.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir returned home early on Saturday.

At the airport, he told journalists that undoubtedly, not only the BNP, but the entire nation has been disappointed by the announcement of elections in April.

The BNP Standing Committee held a meeting on Friday night, when the top policymakers reiterated that elections must be held by December.

Under the chairmanship of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, they reviewed the speech Yunus gave to the nation in the afternoon and unanimously expressed the opinion that his speech on the occasion of the holy Eid-ul-Azha had gone beyond the context and turned into a speech to the nation.

In this long speech, he has touched upon issues like ports, corridors, etc., which, in his own words, do not fall within the “mandate” of the interim government, the BNP said.

“The meeting expressed its anger at the fact that he crossed the limits of political correctness in his choice of words in his speech.”

The leaders felt that if the elections were held in the first half of April, on the one hand, the weather crisis, and on the other hand, the election campaign and activities during Ramadan could create a situation that could be considered a reason for postponing the elections.

Moreover, no specific reason was mentioned in his speech as to why it was not possible to hold the elections by December.

BNP said that the unnecessary delay in the election process has disappointed and angered the people. “So this meeting reiterates the proposal to hold the election within December, taking into account Ramadan, secondary and higher secondary or equivalent level examinations, and weather conditions, etc.”

The Standing Committee said that the non-partisan interim government talks about establishing a consensus, but it is influenced by a particular political group and ignores the opinions of the majority of political parties.