Concern has been expressed in a meeting of the BNP’s policymaking forum, the Standing Committee, regarding renewed changes to the pledge for implementing the July Charter and the role of a political party in a “conspiracy to postpone the election” and its demand for the proportional representation (PR) system.
It has been learned that regarding the upcoming election, the party’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman has instructed to finalise potential candidates only after discussions with the BNP’s single candidate and like-minded political parties.
Meeting sources revealed that besides these, various contemporary issues also featured prominently in the meeting of the BNP’s National Standing Committee held at the chairperson’s office in Gulshan on Monday night.
The Standing Committee meeting started at 9pm and ended at 11:15pm.
Tarique Rahman presided over the meeting virtually from London. Present were the party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam Khan, Abdul Moin Khan, Salahuddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, and Zahid Hossain.
Earlier, after lengthy discussions, political parties have reached a unanimous consensus on the eight proposed recommendations of the National Consensus Commission regarding the July Charter. For those political parties which did not agree with various proposed recommendations, a “Note of Dissent” will have to be written beside those recommendations.
As such, the National Consensus Commission wants to make another round of changes to the pledge before the political parties sign for the implementation of the July Charter. Intensive discussions are also ongoing among the parties regarding what changes will be made to the new pledge document.
The ceremony for political parties to sign the July Charter is scheduled to be held at the South Plaza of the National Parliament on Friday. There are only three days left. Any new changes must be made within this time.
However, the Commission believes it is necessary to make some changes to the pledge based on expert advice.
This issue was discussed in the meeting of the National Consensus Commission. Since time is short, the Commission might send the final copy of the July Charter back to the political parties within a day or two.
Furthermore, the BNP’s Standing Committee meeting also discussed the country’s electoral environment, Tarique Rahman’s imminent return to the country, and starting election public outreach. The BNP has so far agreed in principle to sign for the implementation of the July Charter.
