The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a major political party in the nation, will hold a decisive meeting on Wednesday with Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Advisor of the caretaker government. The party will reaffirm its strong stance against the delay of the national elections after December 2025.
The BNP will also demand a clear and transparent roadmap to the next polls, as per local media reports.
Salahuddin Ahmed, a senior member of the BNP Standing Committee, stated that the discussions would focus on seeking clarity from the interim administration.
“We’ll remind the Chief Advisor of his promise to hold elections by December and urge him to publicly confirm it through a press conference. We’ll also ask him to direct the Election Commission to complete all necessary preparations accordingly,” Ahmed said.
BNP leadership has indicated that if the talks do not produce a solution, the party is ready to take its movement to its next level by organizing street protests, calling for the reinstatement of democratic rule and early national polls.
A series of political activities for the next quarter has also been planned, with marches, rallies, and mobilizations at the grassroots level already on the cards, party sources told UNB, a Bangladeshi news agency.
A BNP Standing Committee member, who asked to remain nameless when he talked to UNB, expressed serious apprehension over what he called an increasingly serious attempt at delaying the polls and extending the interim government up to five years.
He referred to recent comments from Home Affairs Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, who argued that the public supported extending the interim government. Fisheries and Livestock Advisor Farida Akhter pushed the claim even further, stating that the interim power had been 'elected' by the people in a popular rebellion.
At the same time, Mirza Abbas, a fellow member of the BNP Standing Committee, threatened that calculated delays in the election process are becoming apparent.
There are individuals openly discussing the possibility of having Yunus remain in power for five years. But those attempting to do so will not only tarnish his image but also inflict serious damage on the nation," Abbas said.
In a national television broadcast recently, Yunus declared the general elections would be held sometime between December 2025 and June 2026. He also stated that the Consensus Commission was set to gather reform proposals from different political groups.
BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, during a Sunday party meeting, severely condemned reform proponents.
"Talking about reforms from behind occupied desks, being inside air-conditioned rooms in pricey offices. Propagating reforms while getting state benefits like cars, salaries, bonuses, allowances," Rahman said as quoted by The Daily Star, a major newspaper of Bangladesh.
BNP has, repeatedly, raised questions about whether there will be parliamentary elections at all in December, with senior leaders accusing influential interests of staging a "conspiracy" to postpone the polls.
The former-revered political unity seen during the ousting of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League administration in August 2024 now seems to be breaking down, as tensions keep mounting.
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