Poll irregularities: Sedition among 3 new charges added against three ex-CECs

Three more charges, including sedition, have been added to a case against former chief election commissioners Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, KM Nurul Huda, and Kazi Habibul Awal, along with 10 former election commissioners and 11 others, for their alleged involvement in irregularities and bias during the 2014, 2018, and 2024 national elections.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Minhazur Rahman yesterday passed the order after the investigators filed an application with the court, seeking inclusion of the sections 124A [sedition], 420 [cheating and dishonestly inducing deliver of property] and 406 [criminal breach of trust] of the Penal Code in the case, said a court staffer.

On June 22, the BNP filed a case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station against the three CECs, and former 10 election commissioners, and 11 others for their alleged role in irregularities and biasness during the national elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024.

Earlier, Nurul Huda and Habibul Awal were arrested in Dhaka in connection with the case.

Seven charges were included in the case then.

The BNP alleges that in all three parliamentary elections -- the 10th in 2014, the 11th in 2018, and the 12th in 2024 -- their leaders and supporters were targeted with false cases, abductions, and threats. It says many were arrested or harassed so that they could not take part in the polls.

The accused in the case, according to the BNP, were involved in irregularities during the three national elections.

Also named in the case are ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan.

The list of accused includes former inspectors general of police Hasan Mahmud Khandker, Javed Patwary, and Shahidul Haque; former DMP commissioner Benazir Ahmed; former Special Branch chief Monirul Islam; and former chiefs of the National Security Intelligence and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.

The BNP said these individuals were responsible for voter intimidation, and manipulation of the electoral process.