The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior joint secretary general, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, on Wednesday urged the people to boycott the January 7 general election instead of going to polling centres.

The BNP leader made the call after distributing leaflets at Motijheel AGB Colony Bazar in Dhaka in the morning as part of his party’s non-cooperation movement and mass contact programme urging people to boycott the election.

Rizvi alleged that the government was taking the country towards hell by forcibly holding a one-sided election.

‘This is not an election. People have no voting rights here. People do not have freedom of speech. This is not an election, it is a fraud against the people. Don’t go to the polling centers, boycott this election,’ the BNP leader urged the people.

“The government wants to hold a one-sided election again to loot more money and siphon off the money abroad… They want to loot people’s money by robbing banks, they want to be happier by looting and laundering money. But they don’t care if the country goes to hell or the people go to hell,’ the BNP leader alleged.

Several leaders of the BNP and its associate organisations were present.