<div><b><font color="#6ba54a"><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Bangladesh Awami League (AL) Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked her party members to work for turning the upcoming general election festive and competitive in a peaceful atmosphere.</span><br></font></b></div><div><br></div><div>“Since various types of local and international conspiracies against the election are there this time, it should be held amid a peaceful environment,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>The AL president, who is also the prime ministrr, was addressing election rallies in six districts –Sherpur, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj, Chandpur, Narsingdi and Bandarban—through a virtual platform from AL Tejgaon Office here in the capital.</div><div><br></div><div>She repeated her designation of opposition BNP as a terrorist party and Jamaat as a party of war criminals.</div><div><br></div><div>BNP and Jamaat are both boycotting the January 7 vote for fear of rigging.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said she doest not believe that the election won’t be a participatory one without the participation of BNP and Jamaat.</div><div><br></div><div>“The election will be participatory, if the people and voters come out and participate in the polls,” said Hasina.</div><div><br></div><div>She said the terrorist party, BNP, doesn’t believe in election and the party can’t do anything to ensure the welfare of the country. “They (BNP) can give nothing other than killing people and corruption,” she went on.</div><div><br></div><div>The AL chief said this time the election was opened (particularly for its rival candidates) so that candidates of boat symbols and other symbols can run in the polls.</div><div><br></div><div>“Here I would like to request you to maintain a peaceful environment and seek votes for respective symbols equally. The people will vote for the candidate of their choice,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Citing that AL declared its Election Manifesto 2024 on Wednesday last, she asked her party members to read the manifesto and seek the votes for the ‘boat’ symbol, raising the targets set in the manifesto before the people.</div><div><br></div><div>She said many plots are on regarding this election. The work of BNP is only to set offices on fire and foil the election.</div><div><br></div><div>The PM said Bangladesh has witnessed a massive development since an elected, democratic government has been in power consecutively since 2009 to 2023. But the previous government couldn’t take the country even a single step forward, rather they took the country backward, reports UNB,</div><div><br></div><div>“Today we’ll have to continue the progress Bangladesh has achieved. If only the Awami League comes to power, it can uphold this pace of progress,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>PM Hasina sought votes for the “boat,” AL’s electoral symbol.</div><div><br></div><div>“If AL stays in power, the emancipation of all the people of this country including the poor would come and this country would be developed and prosperous,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, she also said her party members to go for a door-to-door campaign to seek their votes for the ‘boat’ symbol so that they can give her party scope again to serve them.</div><div><br></div>