Awami League to accept EC's decision over EVM use in next election: Quader

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said the ruling party will accept the decision of Election Commission (EC) over the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the next general elections.

"We want the use of EVM in 300 seats in the next elections. But, we will accept what the Commission can do according to its capacity," he told a warm cloth distribution ceremony, organised by Dhaka North City unit of Awami League, on Kachukhet road adjacent to Mirpur-10 Square in the capital.

The warm clothes were distributed among the cold-hit people on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, said the BNP's politics is being destroyed after following invisible directives coming over the banks of the Thames River.

BNP will never succeed in the movement and elections if it cannot come out of this, he said.

Terming the BNP a "killer of democracy and the values of Liberation War", the AL general secretary said how they (BNP), which create one crore fake voters, will repair the state. "The Sheikh Hasina government will repair the state".

Claiming that the BNP destroyed the country's electoral system too, he said they destroyed the election system and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina repaired it.

At the time when many big countries are struggling amid the ongoing global crisis, many people are praising the progress of Bangladesh, he added.

Mentioning that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina provided 30 lakh warm clothes for cold-hit people across the country, Quader said people have been suffering from cold during the ongoing winter and the AL government has remained beside them.

BNP cannot tolerate the development of the incumbent government, he said, adding that the AL always works for the people and that is why they are with it.

"People are not in favour of the BNP and it can be understood from the BNP's movement. People have turned away their faces from the BNP's fake movement," the minister said.

About US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu's visit to Dhaka, he questioned "Why did the BNP leaders go to the hospital after Donald Lu's arrival?"

Following the invisible directives, the BNP is conducting propaganda to tarnish the image of Bangladesh in the international arena, he said.

State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumdar and Dhaka North City councilor Abdur Rauf Nannu, among others, spoke at the meeting with Dhaka North City AL president Sheikh Bazlur Rahman in the chair.

Dhaka North City AL general secretary SM Mannan Kochi moderated the function.