Awami League leader and former deputy speaker Advocate Abdul Hamid yesterday claimed that the BNP-Jamaat alliance wants to hold a farcical election like the February 15 polls in 1996 to go back to power.

The Chief Advisor of the caretaker government and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) are working as 'puppets' of the alliance to bring it to power through an 'election engineering', he told as public meeting in Kishoreganj town.

The former deputy speaker warned that efforts to materialise the plan will only trigger a political turmoil in the country, for which, the

Chief Advisor will be solely responsible.

Hamid said there will not be any election keeping MA Aziz as the CEC.

He urged the president and chief advisor to accept 14-party alliance's 11-point demand to hold a free, fair and credible election. A countrywide blockade will begin from tomorrow if the demands are not met, he said.

The chief advisor was given enough time to accept the demands and prove his neutrality but he is acting on advice of the BNP-Jamaat alliance, Hamid claimed.

He is wasting time as was done by BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan in the name of dialogue with Awami League secre-

tary Abdul Jalil, he said.

The former deputy speaker advised BNP not to forget that it wanted to retain power by holding a farcical election in 1996 but was dislodged by the people.

The BNP-Jamaat alliance wants to hold such al election as its leaders know they will not be voted due to their alleged misdeeds and corruption, price hike of essentials and failure in all sectors including power.

District NAP leader Moza-mmel Haque Khan Ratan presided over the meeting addressed by former AL lawmaker and a deputy minister Sayeed Ashraful Islam, Ganatantroi Party secretary Bhopandra Bhoumik and district AL joint secretary MA Afzal.