<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said the next parliamentary election will be fair and free as she is committed to democracy and the Election Commission is completely independent.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The next election will be fair and free. I fought for democracy throughout my life,” she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The premier said this when a US delegation, led by Counselor of the US Department of State Derek Chollet, paid a courtesy call on her at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PM’s Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hasina said if the people vote for Awami League in the next general election, her party will take the charge of governing the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I never want to come to power through vote-rigging,” she was quoted as saying.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The PM said she always struggled for the people’s rights to food and vote.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said the first-ever EC’s reconstitution law was passed in parliament and then a neutral Election Commission was constituted on the basis of the law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said the EC is completely independent. It has administrative and financial independence, she added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bangladesh is due to elect its next parliament by end of this year or first week of January next year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The last parliamentary election was held on December 30, 2018. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>