Referendum before election unnecessary, irrational: Mirza Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the referendum plan before the national election as "unnecessary and irrational."

He made the remarks while addressing reporters at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office on Thursday (October 30).

"Several clauses agreed upon in the commission were secretly changed, while dissenting notes were ignored," he said.

Fakhrul described the government has no authority to issue the draft order for implementing the July Charter, terming the Consensus Commission’s proposal "imposed on the nation."

"It could divide the nation and have long-term negative effects," he warned.

He clarified that BNP has no distrust in the election itself, only in the commission’s one-sided recommendations.