BNP 'salutes' voters, claims polls boycott successful
Moin Khan said this was not an election, but a fake one
BNP's Standing Committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan has saluted voters for heeding the opposition's call to abstain from voting in Sunday's polls that the party dubbed "lopsided", claiming that their election boycott campaign was successful.
"The people of the world are watching; the people of the country are watching; the people of Bangladesh have boycotted this election," Moyeen said.
"Today, I salute the people of Bangladesh not only on behalf of the BNP but also on behalf of all 62 political parties that boycotted this farcical election. Today, I salute the people of Bangladesh for one reason only: that they have never compromised on the question of democracy, and they will not compromise this time either."
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The BNP leader came up with the reactions while speaking to the media after learning about the voting progress until noon on Sunday.
"Your television cameras, pictures speak. Most polling stations were almost devoid of voters," he said.
When asked whether their vote boycott campaign was successful, Moyeen Khan said, "It has certainly been successful."
Jamaat-e-Islami acting ameer Mujibur Rahman also congratulated the countrymen for boycotting the election.
In a statement on Sunday, he said, "The people of Bangladesh and the people of the world witnessed yet another farcical dummy election without voters in Bangladesh. It will be a black day in the history of Bangladesh."
Charmonai Pir's Islami Andolan Bangladesh, AB Party, Labour Party, Ganatantra Mancha, Gono Odhikar Parishad, and other like-minded opposition parties also thanked the countrymen for staying away from the election.
In a separate programme, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said people in the country have boycotted the 12th parliamentary polls.
"A one-sided election is taking place today. But not a single voter went to the polling stations. The government filled the ballot boxes last night," the BNP leader said before leading a procession in the capital in support of their hartal on Sunday.
The procession started from Dhaka's Kurmitola bus stand and went towards the airport.
Earlier in the day, Jamaat-e-Islami brought out processions in the capital in support of the hartal called by the party and BNP as the nation went to the polls.
Party activists organised marches in the Uttara area.
After the BNP's announcement of a hartal, Jamaat declared that the party would enforce a 48-hour nationwide hartal covering the election day to press their demand for boycotting the 7 January election.
There were reports of police intercepting BNP's procession in Chattogram during the final day of the 48-hour general strike.
