Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim yesterday requested BNP not to make the same mistake and participate in the upcoming national election

"You [BNP] made a mistake before by not taking part in the election and lost many things... Participate in the election. We will accept the verdict, which will be given by the people, "said Nasim, spokesperson of the 14-party alliance.

"Win or lose - it's part of the game. It

[polls] must take place in December. Nobody will be able to resist it,” he said, assuring that a neutral role would be played by the Election Commission.

The Awami League presidium member made the remarks at the sixth national convention and annual general meeting of Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB), held at its auditorium in Dhaka.

In 2014, BNP boycotted the 10th national election.

Nasim said the national polls should take place as per the country's constitution. “There's no alternative to it."

He said that Awami League lost in some previous elections, like the city corporation polls, and accepted the results. The party does not want to win in an "empty field", Nasim added.

Abdur Razzaque, chairman of parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry; Dr J Scott Angle, president of International Fertilizer Development Center; and Prof Kamal Uddin Ahmed, vice chancellor of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, also spoke at the programme.