Dhaka, Oct 22 (V7N) — The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has urged the current interim government to operate in the style of a caretaker administration to ensure a free, fair, and credible national election scheduled for February next year.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking to reporters after a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka.

“The upcoming national election must be meaningful, neutral, and acceptable to all. For that, the interim government should immediately begin functioning like a caretaker administration,” Mirza Fakhrul said. “This requires making the entire administration neutral so that public confidence can be restored.”

He said the BNP delegation urged the government to remove officials at the Secretariat who were “identified as allies of the previous authoritarian regime” and replace them with non-partisan officers. “We believe they are still serving the interests of that fascist regime,” Fakhrul added. “Similar measures must also be taken at the district administration level.”

On the issue of law enforcement and the judiciary, the BNP leader said, “We have called for neutrality in police appointments, particularly in new recruitments and promotions. In the judiciary, especially the higher courts, judges who are known associates of the previous regime should be replaced with impartial ones.”

Although acknowledging that the judiciary operates independently, Fakhrul said they placed these demands before the Chief Adviser since “he is currently responsible for overseeing all administrative matters.”

The BNP also stressed that the interim government itself must maintain strict neutrality. “If there are any partisan individuals within the interim government, we have demanded their removal,” Fakhrul said, describing it as a key point of the meeting.

When asked if the BNP had raised objections about any specific adviser, the party secretary general replied in the negative.

The BNP delegation, led by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, included party leaders Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Salahuddin Ahmed. The meeting with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus began at 6 p.m. and concluded at around 7:11 p.m.

The BNP has long advocated for elections under a neutral caretaker-style framework, arguing that only such an arrangement can guarantee fairness and public confidence in the electoral process.

END/AJ/SMA/