Former CEC Habibul Awal placed on 3-day remand

Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has been placed on a three-day police remand.

Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court granted the remand today, Thursday.

Police had sought a 10-day remand in a case filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, accusing Awal of depriving voters through a farcical election process, including vote rigging. Following a hearing, the court approved a three-day remand.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) reported that Habibul Awal was arrested from the capital’s Moghbazar area on Wednesday morning.

Earlier, on Sunday, another former CEC, KM Nurul Huda, was arrested in the same case. The following day, Monday, the court granted a four-day remand for him.

BNP executive committee member Salahuddin Khan filed the case on Sunday with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, naming 24 individuals including three former CECs, accusing them of orchestrating rigged elections.

The case accuses Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed, who oversaw the 2014 national election; KM Nurul Huda, responsible for the 2018 election; and Kazi Habibul Awal, the CEC during the 2024 election.

On Wednesday, the CMM court also approved a police petition to include charges of sedition in the case.

Other accused in the case include former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted during the July mass uprising, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and former Inspectors General of Police Hasan Mahmud Khandker, Javed Patwary, and AKM Shahidul Haque, among others.