An interim government-appointed commission has released a scathing report alleging that Bangladesh’s 2014, 2018, and 2024 national electionsโwidely criticised as “one-sided,” “night voting,” and “dummy polls”โwere part of a deliberate, state-orchestrated plan to manipulate outcomes in favour of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, starting as early as 2008.
However, the report’s findings have sparked questions about the commission’s own legitimacy, neutrality, and mandate, especially as Sheikh Hasina, in exile, recently provided a detailed defense of those elections during a virtual party meeting.
Awami League President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, addressing a virtual party meeting on January 12, dismissed such probes as biased smear campaigns, offering a point-by-point rebuttal of the elections’ fairness.
She highlighted the 2008 pollsโwidely accepted internationallyโas proof of her party’s popularity, securing 48% of votes and 233 of 259 contested seats, while the BNP-Jamaat alliance won only 30 seats with 32% despite contesting all 300.
For 2014, she recalled personally inviting BNP leader Khaleda Zia to join an all-party caretaker government, offering ministries of choiceโa proposal rejected amid BNP’s boycott. “We never wanted unilateral elections or to ban parties,” she said.
Commenting on the 2018 polls, she accused opponents of sabotaging their own participation through internal fights over nominations, then launching global propaganda with Dr. Yunus and BNP-Jamaat. “They couldn’t show one irregularity,” Hasina claimed.
Defending 2024, she noted opposition boycotts despite invitations, insisting no violence or rigging occurred: “No one has shown a single irregularity, murder, or fight at any centre.”
The five-member commission, chaired by former High Court Justice Md. Shamim Hasnain and including former Additional Secretary Md. Shamim Al Mamun, Dhaka University law associate professor Kazi Mahbubul Haque, lawyer Tajrian Akram Hossain, and election expert Md. Abdul Alim, submitted its report to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna on Monday evening. In a subsequent press conference, the panel outlined what it called a “master plan” executed at the highest levels of state power, involving the administration, police, the Election Commission (EC), and intelligence agencies to ensure Awami League victories.
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According to the report’s summary, the 2014 electionโwhere 153 seats went uncontested and the remaining 147 were allegedly “staged”โwas a premeditated effort to retain power. The commission claimed that the 2018 polls saw up to 80% of centres rigged with pre-stamped ballots at night, leading to inflated turnout figures exceeding 100% in some areas. For 2024, with opposition parties like the BNP boycotting, “dummy candidates” were purportedly fielded to simulate competition. The panel estimated thousands of officials were involved but cited time constraints as preventing a full identification of culprits, recommending further probes into the 2008 election as “suspicious.”
The commission described these elections as a “stain” on Bangladesh’s democracy, accusing them of wasting public funds, violating voting rights, and fostering fascism. It traced the origins to the 2011 Supreme Court verdict by then-Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque declaring the caretaker government system unconstitutionalโa move the report labelled as part of a “long-term strategy.”
Key irregularities highlighted include abolishing the caretaker system, deploying state intelligence and armed forces for electoral manipulation, filing false cases against opposition members, enforced disappearances, ballot stuffing, gerrymandering, appointing compliant EC officials, and using “dummy” candidates.
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The panel recommended reforms such as enacting laws based on the Election System Reform Commission’s suggestions, forming a boundary delimitation commission, barring administrative cadre from EC roles, appointing an EC secretary from outside administration, prioritising EC staff for returning officer duties, creating a “protection framework” for judicial magistrates during elections, and ensuring transparency in intelligence operations like DGFI and NSI.
Yet, the commission’s credibility is under fire. Critics, including Awami League supporters and independent observers, question its mandateโformed initially as a committee in June 2025 and upgraded to a commission in July with deadlines extended to January 2026โarguing it exceeds the interim government’s transitional role. Appointed by the Yunus administration amid the post-July 2024 crackdown on Awami League figures, the body is accused of lacking neutrality, with its members perceived as aligned against Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
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Legal experts note the commission’s broad accusations without naming specific individuals or providing verifiable evidence, citing “insufficient time” as a convenient excuse, raising doubts about due process and impartiality.
In her recent address, Sheikh Hasina attributed the Awami League ban to fear of its victory, crediting her tenure with suppressing terrorism, boosting per capita income, building Digital Bangladesh, and reducing unemployment to 3%. She contrasted this with the current “destroyed” economy under Yunus, marked by capital flight, bank looting, and business closures.
Urging a mass boycott, she said: “Tell people there’s no need to go to polling centresโthey’ll declare votes themselves. We’ll see what happens to their election.”
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