2024 election was ‘dummy’: Habibul Awal 

Former Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal has admitted “The 2024 election was a dummy election. It was a farce election. The 2024 election was a dummy election because there was no agreement between the political parties.”

Habibul Awal said these things in response to questions from Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Mostafizur Rahman during a hearing in his court on Thursday (June 26).

He said, “Under a political government, a fair election will not be possible in this country even in a thousand years.”

“Even Sheikh Mujibur Rahman couldn’t resist the lure of power in 1973. No election in Bangladesh has been free of controversy, Awal said.”

The court ultimately granted a three-day remand for Awal and rejected his bail plea.

Public Prosecutor Omar Faruk Faruki accused him of making a secret deal with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before the 2024 election, promising her victory in exchange for money—an allegation Awal firmly denied.

BNP Central Executive Committee member Salah Uddin Khan on June 22 filed a case against 24 people including three former CECs - Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed, K M Nurul Huda and Kazi Habibul Awal for holding farcical elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024. 

The complainant later on June 25 through a supplementary affidavit added some sections of Bangladesh Penal Code (BPC) covering sedition, cheating and embezzlement of government money.

The other accused of the case are - former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former election commissioners Md Abdul Mobarak, Abu Hanif, brigadier general (Rtd) Jabed Ali, Md Shah Newaz, Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanom, brigadier general (Rtd) Shahdat Hossain Chowdhury, brigadier general (Rtd) Ahsan Habib, Alamgir Hossain and Md Anisur Rahman and the then secretary to the Election Commission, former Inspector General's of Police (IGPs) Hassan Mahmud Khandkar, Jabed Patwari, Benazir Ahmed, AKM Shahidul Haque, former chief of the special branch (SB) Md Monirul Islam, a former chief of the Director General of the Forces Intelligence, a former chief of National Security Intelligence (NSI) and former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dhaka range Syed Nurul Islam.