According to political analysts, Iajuddin lost the trust of AL-led 14-party coalition, which later formed the current grand electoral alliance, by not keeping his promises to it.

He had promised to the coalition that he would create a neutral environment for holding a free and fair election but according to the grand alliance he reneged on the promise forcing it to boycott the scheduled election.

And finally, cancellation of all five nominations of Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad by the Election Commission (EC) even after CG's advisers' promise to the grand alliance leaders, that they would initiate a 'positive' move to ensure Ershad's participation in the poll, pushed the grand alliance away from participating in the January poll, sources said.

Moreover, top leaders of the grand alliance got reports from their grassroots level leaders that the 'politicised' administration had been non-cooperative towards its candidates with an increased zeal following submissions of their nomination papers on December 26.

Despite the CG's failure to implement the package proposal proposed by the council of advisers, the grand alliance had decided earlier to participate in the January poll 'with a belief that it would be able to break free the administration from the clutches of BNP influence'.

But following the cancellation of Ershad's all five nominations, the top leaders of the grand alliance including the AL president Sheikh Hasina began backtracking from their decision to participate sensing that 'the cancellations were a part of implementing BNP's blueprint for rigging the election, which will be almost impossible to dismantle under the current CA'.

"We have boycotted the elections as Iajuddin-led caretaker government did not create a neutral environment, did not depoliticise the administration and did not make the Election Commission neutral even after we gave enough time," AL Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu told The Daily Star last night.

Since, President Iajuddin Ahmed had assumed the office of the CA, AL-led 14-party coalition neither accepting nor rejecting him was trying to participate in the upcoming election even in the face of strong opposition from within the coalition.

According to the package proposal, Election Commissioners SM Zakaria and Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury would go on leaves of absence, three more election commissioners would be appointed, and an acting chief election commissioner would be made from the newly appointed commissioners.

The package also included promises of changing all 'politically appointed election officials including 300 upazila election officers', proper updating of the voter list, and depoliticisation of the administration.

Most of the promises remain unmet while Iajuddin deployed the armed forces without consultation with the council of advisers leading to the resignations of four erstwhile key advisers to the CG.