Representatives of eight Islamic parties, including the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, on Friday demanded that the reform-centric referendum should be held before the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections, announced for early February 2026.
The parties iterated their demand in response to the Thursday speech of the interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus regarding the issuance of the July National Charter Implementation (Reform of Constitution) Order 2025.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Thursday evening issued the charter order with a provision that a referendum on four questions would be held on the same day as the JS elections
The parties renewed the demand at a joint press conference at the Al Falah Auditorium at Moghbazar in the capital Dhaka.
Top leaders of the eight parties would meet on November 16 to decide their next course of action, they said.
Speaking on behalf of the party representatives, Jamaat nayeb-e-amir Syed聽 Abdullah Muhammad Taher said that holding the referendum simultaneously with the JS elections would undermine the importance of the state reform initiative.
鈥榃e appreciate the issuance of the order, but we strongly oppose holding the referendum the same day as the JS polls,鈥� Taher said, urging the interim government to revise the order.
Without naming the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Taher alleged that one of the major political parties had gone against the reform process by 鈥榦pposing the implementation of the July Charter鈥�.
鈥榃e had hoped that Professor Yunus would begin implementing the charter as recommended by the National Consensus Commission. But to our surprise, we observed on Thursday that he had altered the implementation mechanism in line with demands from a major party. This is not fair,鈥� Taher said.
Criticising the four referendum questions, including one if that would allow voters to mandate their chosen parties to maintain dissenting notes during the implementation of the July Charter, Taher said, 鈥楾hese four questions will confuse voters and complicate the reform process.鈥�
Taher alleged that some of the advisers were misleading the chief adviser.
The Jamaat and like-minded parties campaigned against the BNP鈥檚 demand for allowing the ruling party to maintain dissenting notes in the charter鈥檚 implementation process.
Instead, the Jamaat strongly endorsed the National Consensus Commission鈥檚 recommendation to hold the referendum on a single question: whether voters support the charter implementation order and the 48 constitutional reforms.
Those who were present at the press conference included Jamaat assistant secretary general Abdul Halim, Islami Andolan joint secretary general Bangladesh Sheikh Fazle Bari Masood, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis senior nayeb-e-amir Yusuf Ashraf , Khelafat Majlis senior nayeb-e-amir Shakhawat Hossain, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan secretary general Yusuf Sadiq Azhari, Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islami Party secretary general Musa Bin Chowdhury, Jatiya Ganatantrik Party vice-president Rashed Pradhan, and Bangladesh Development Party secretary general Nizamul Haque Nayeem.
