Arrest of former Bangladesh election chief sparks controversy

Bangladesh's former chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal was arrested on Wednesday, days after his predecessor K M Nurul Huda was taken into custody on charges of election manipulation during the Sheikh Hasina regime.

“(Police’s) detective branch (DB) arrested (Awal) him at around 2 pm from the Mogbazar area (in the capital),” Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner Talebur Rahman said.

Awal is the second former election commission chief to be arrested this week after the Sunday night arrest of his predecessor K M Nurul Huda on charges of manipulating elections. Huda was also assaulted by a mob before his arrest.

Awal served as the 13th Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh from February 2022 to September 2024. His predecessor Huda served as CEC from February 2017 to February 2022.

Media reports said Awal was now in police custody awaiting his court appearance and subsequent legal procedures.

The arrests were made after former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) filed a case against 19 people, including Huda, for conducting general elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 under Hasina regime "without people's mandate." Hasina had won all these elections.

Huda's assault triggered an uproar in social media, prompting Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus’ interim government to issue a statement around midnight.

It also warned of appropriate actions against such people.

The army troops, who now discharge tasks of law enforcement, later arrested one of the assailants and handed him over to the police for legal action.

Yunus took over as the head of the interim government after Hasina was ousted in a massive student-led protest in August last year. She fled to India following the toppling of her Awami League government.

Most senior leaders of the Awami League and ministers and senior officials of the ousted regime were arrested or fled the country after the fall of the then government.

Several of these leaders, including ministers, in the past several months, came under mob attack, particularly in court premises.

Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence at 32 Dhanmondi in Dhaka, which was turned into a memorial museum, was demolished by a mob using bulldozers in February this year.