postponed because of the death of one candidate. The rate of voter turnout was also extremely low. The BNP won a landslide victory. But in the context of the opposition boycott, elections to the sixth parliament caused a serious legitimacy crisis for the BNP government headed by Khaleda Zia. The opposition considered the sixth parliament as illegitimate and demanded its immediate dissolution. Widespread political crises compounded the crises in economic management. The government thus decided to move in the sixth parliament a constitutional amendment bill providing for the holding of parliamentary elections under the NCG in the future. The bill on NCG was moved by the then law minister Barrister Zamiruddin Sirkar on 21 March 1996. The House passed it at dawn on 26 March; while the President assented to the bill on 28 March. Details of the bill will be discussed in the next chapter. The enactment of the bill for NCG, however, did not lead to the suspension of violent activities; to the contrary, the opposition further intensified its street agitation programme, demanding that the Khaleda Zia government resign immediately and hand over power to the NCG. The anti-government activities got a major boost when government officials seriously objected to the legitimacy of the government and pledged their support to the opposition movement. Secretaries of different ministries met the President, expressing their inability to carry out the orders of what they called the "illegitimate" government. 13 They also set a deadline for the government to resign, failing which they threatened to defy its (government) order. Different civil society organizations and NGOs also extended support to the opposition parties. What actually hastened the fall of the second Khaleda Zia government was the withdrawal of support to it by the civil servants. A large number of officials at different levels of government openly expressed solidarity with the opposition movement for the fall of the government. Many officials also, joined the janatar mancha (people's podium) erected by BAL leaders and supporters under the leadership of the Dhaka City BAL President and Mayor of Dhaka - Mohammad Hanif. The mancha provided a rallying point for several days for those who were engaged in anti-government agitation. When Khaleda Zia found it impossible to run the government, she resigned on 30 March 1996.14 The following day a non-party caretaker government with the last retired Chief Justice Habibur Rahman as its head was formed. On the way to restoration of liberal democracy from the bondage of military autocracy the historic 5th Parliamentary election was a milestone which was held under the acting president 13 14
Nizam Ahmed, ibid, p.33. Ibid, p.34.