Acting Chairman of BNP, Tarique Rahman, has claimed that people boycotted voting in the 12th National Assembly elections, sending Sheikh Hasina a message to resign. He made this statement in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle at 10 pm on January 16.

In that X post, he mentioned that 63 pro-democracy political parties boycotted the 12th National Parliament election held on January 7. Less than 5 per cent of the population cast their ballots, so Tarique Rahman argued that this election was insignificant.

Tarique Rahman stated that this sham election is deemed unimportant for five reasons: 

First, over 95% of the people of Bangladesh responded to our call and refrained from participating in the so-called election, which was neither inclusive nor participatory, and served as the public referendum for Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.

Second, Awami League is a violent party, and its politics is characterized by intra-party clashes and no less than 13 recent murders, with election rigging and manipulation embedded in its organizational DNA, even without any opposition. 

Third, a free and fair election at any level is simply not possible under the illegal and illegitimate Hasina regime, as evident by the biased and politicized exploitation of a section of the state apparatus, including Election Commission, law enforcement agencies, judiciary, and civil and military bureaucracy.

Fourth, the regime is increasingly aligning with other authoritarian governments, against the interests of the democratic world and the aspirations of the 180 million Bangladeshis who cherish the ideals of their democratic and voting rights. 

Fifth, as per public mandate and political consensus, a non-party, neutral, election-time government to administer the election is the only solution to restore democracy in Bangladesh, which in turn, would ensure human rights, rule of law, and fundamental freedoms of the nation.