Sheikh Hasina, president of Awami League, on Monday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the President and chief adviser to the caretaker administration, Iajuddin Ahmed to implement the ‘package deal’ that Iajuddin himself offered to ensure a free, fair and credible election.(New Age)

‘We demand an answer by 24 hours. We want a free and fair election, but our stand is clear — election cannot be held according to the existing schedule announced by the Election Commission,’ said Hasina while addressing a grand rally organised by the AL-led alliance at Paltan Maidan.

The caretaker government on December 4 offered a package deal which included arrangement for sending two controversial election commissioners on leave, appointing another election commissioner to take charge of the commission, making some changes in the already-announced election schedule, and transferring some government secretaries.

The caretaker administration implemented some of the proposals and backtracked from implementing others, particularly the one regarding recasting of the commission.

Hasina, vowing to not participate in the polls before proper updating of the voters’ list and reconstitution of the Election Commission, demanded that the rough voters’ list be hung at the district and upazila offices so that it can be checked by the people before the final list is printed.

She also announced a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal on December 21, the last date of submitting nomination forms for the upcoming general elections that is scheduled for 22 January.

The EC shifted the election to January 22 on Monday from the earlier date of January 23 due to Saraswati Puja.

The rally was also addressed by the former president and Jatiya Party chairman, HM Ershad, and another former president and presently head of the Liberal Democratic Party, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury.

Hasina urged the people to vote for the AL-led ‘grand alliance’ so that the country can be developed and governed in line with the spirit of the liberation war.

Earlier, Hasina accused President Iajuddin Ahmed and the immediate past government of Khaleda Zia of repeatedly ignoring her proposal for electoral reforms.

‘We submitted reform proposals but the BNP government told us to place them in the parliament. When we did so they proposed a dialogue and we agreed, but the BNP backtracked,’ she said, adding that Iajuddin also withdrew the package deal when the AL-led alliance accepted it.

She termed the dubious role of the BNP and the caretaker chief as a conspiracy to implement the blueprint of election-engineering drawn by the BNP-Jamaat axis.

Hasina also warned the caretaker administration to not play games with the election, saying that the people of the country would not accept such an election.

She urged the party-men to seek voters’ lists from the election offices in their areas and file cases against the officials individually if they do not provide the lists.

She also demanded transparent ballot boxes and voters’ identity cards.

Accusing the BNP-Jamaat alliance of looting a huge amount of money, Hasina assured the people that they would reclaim the money from the ‘robbers’ and distribute it to the people if voted to power in the next polls.

She said that the people were now united in a grand alliance and would not accept a rigged election or one in which the other parties did not participate.

Addressing the rally, Jatiya Party’s chairman, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, said that he had been repeatedly threatened that he would be sent to jail for his stance against the four-party alliance.

He also alleged that the case in which he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment was revived hurriedly with the intention of stopping him from competing in the election.

The Liberation Democratic Party’s president, AQM Badruddoza Chowdury accused Iajuddin of trying to bring back the BNP-Jamaat alliance to power through a false and farcical election.

Tofail Ahmed, AL’s presidium member, said their demands would be materialised through movement. He said that the whole nation is now united against the Khaleda-Nizami clique.

Rashed Khan Menon, president of Workers Party of Bangladesh, said that the problems of the poor people should be resolved by rooting out terrorism and corruption from the country.

Several thousand leaders and activists started to gather at the Paltan Maidan before midday with colourful banners and placards and filled up the ground by 3:00pm.

There were so many people that they could not be accommodated in Paltan, and so had to gather in adjacent places like Bangabandhu Avenue, GPO, Motijheel and areas near Gulistan and the Press Club.

They also chanted various slogans against the caretaker chief and BNP-Jamaat alliance and in favour of probable candidates of their respective localities with the portraits of the candidates and the facsimiles of boats.

The cultural wings of the alliance sang songs on the dais from the morning, which turned the rally’s venue into a festive zone.

The rally was also addressed by, among others, AL presidium members Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, general secretary Abdul Jalil, Jatiya Party presidium member Kazi Zafar and secretary-general ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, JSD president Hasanul Huq Inu, Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua, Zaker Party president Mostafa Amir

Faisal, Gana Forum presidium member Zahirul Islam, Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Nurul Islam, Gana Azadi League president Abdus Samad, National Awami Party general secretary Enamul Huq, Ganatantrik Mojdur Party general secretary Zakir Hossain, Communist Kendra joint convenor Asit Baran Roy were present, among others.

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