Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md. Asaduzzaman on Thursday said the next national election will be held under a caretaker government following the court order.
“The process for forming the caretaker government and who would be included in it would become clear after reviewing the full text of the judgment,” he said while talking to reporters at his office at Secretariat.
Earlier in the morning, the Appellate Division upheld the High Court verdict declaring parts of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution unconstitutional and void and restoring the caretaker government system and the referendum.
When asked whether he could say that the next parliamentary election would definitely be held under a caretaker government, the minister said, “It is our political commitment.”
The caretaker government system was the outcome of a long political movement led by the BNP and the concept evolved from the interim government that oversaw the 1991 general election following the mass uprising of 1990, said the minister adding, BNP introduced the 13th Constitutional Amendment in 1996, establishing the framework for a neutral, non-party caretaker government to conduct national elections.
BNP had continued its movement for the restoration of the caretaker government system over the past 16 to 17 years, he said.
“The main objective of our movement was to ensure people's voting rights under the principle, ‘I will cast my vote for the candidate of my choice. We are politically committed to restoring that process and we believe there is no alternative to a caretaker government for achieving that goal,” he added.