Asif, who also chairs the NCP’s Election Management Committee, criticised the EC and law enforcement agencies for selectively enforcing the rules.
He claimed that smaller parties like the NCP face frequent fines and show-cause notices for minor infractions, while larger parties are allowed to flout the rules without consequences.
While some candidates are using up to 400 microphones and holding rallies late into the night, and others are intimidating voters at yard meetings, the authorities have not intervened in these violations, he alleged.
Claiming that the BNP’s election manifesto contradicts the “July charter”, Asif accused the party of a “pre-polls betrayal” of the July uprising’s mandate.
Asif specifically criticised the BNP’s shift from a vote-proportional model for the Upper House to a seat-based one, and the BNP leadership for its “softening” stance towards the Awami League.
He warned that Tarique Rahman was repeating a “historical mistake” similar to Ziaur Rahman’s, who had allowed Sheikh Hasina to return to the country.
Asif further alleged that some political leaders have “forgotten the suffering of their own activists” in their pursuit of power.
Asif urged BNP grassroots to speak out against their leadership’s “pro-AL bias”, and called for public engagement.
