DHAKA: Bangladesh’s main opposition party urged voters on Wednesday to boycott what it called a “one-sided dummy election” due in January, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina kicked off her campaign for a fourth consecutive term.

With its top leaders either jailed or in the exile, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been calling for Hasina to resign and for a neutral authority to replace the government and oversee the Jan 7 polls, which the BNP is not contesting.

Hasina has repeatedly rejected opposition calls to step down and has blamed the BNP for instigating anti-government protests that have rocked Dhaka since late October and in which at least 10 people have been killed.

“Boycott the dummy election on Jan 7. Don’t participate in the monkey game on Jan 7,” the BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told an online press briefing. “None of you will go to the polling station. This is your democratic right.” Rizvi also called on government employees — especially those involved in organising the election — to quit and for all services, including banking and the judicial system, to be halted. “Suspend all taxes, fees, utility bills and other payables to the government,” he said.

Hasina urged people to vote for her party to continue work towards a prosperous Bangladesh as she began campaigning in the northeastern Sylhet district.

“Casting a vote is the constitutional right of the people. If anyone interferes with voting or elections, the people will reject them, she told a huge rally.

“Any party can boycott the poll but why do they burn people to death?, she said.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023