The main opposition BNP has turned down the third invitation of the Election Commission (EC) to its ongoing dialogue with political parties, reiterating that it would not sit with a 'controversial' and 'partisan' commission.
BNP conveyed the message to EC through a letter signed by its acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday, the day scheduled for BNP-EC talk.
Abdul Latif Jony, party's assistant office secretary, handed over the letter to EC's acting Secretary Dr Muhammed Sadique around 2:40pm.
The letter reads: "The allegations that were raised earlier by the BNP against the EC still remain there. So, it is not possible for the party to join the EC's dialogue."
On June 13, BNP in a letter termed the EC 'controversial' and 'partisan' and refused to join the talk.
In response to BNP's allegation, the EC on July 5 sent a letter saying the allegations against the commission are baseless and again invited the party for the third time to sit in a dialogue yesterday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said BNP would not get any more chance to join the ongoing session of dialogue if it skipped yesterday's talk.
The EC invited BNP for the dialogue on June 13, for the second time any day between June 19 and 22 and for the third time yesterday.
Talking to The Daily Star, Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain yesterday said, "We have invited them [BNP] three times. But they rejected. We will later discuss whether the commission will invite them again."
The EC on June 7 launched dialogues with the registered political parties for their opinion on some key issues like the RPO; laws on demarcation of constituencies and appointment of election commissioners; and introduction of electronic voting machine (EVM).
Jamaat-e-Islami also skipped the dialogue.
Source : The Daily Star
