A Dhaka court has granted a four-day remand for former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda following his arrest in a case that accuses him of orchestrating a rigged national election under political influence.
Nurul Huda was produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka at around 3:00 PM on Sunday, where he was held in the court’s lock-up before the hearing. The investigating officer, sub-inspector Shamsuzzohar Sarkar of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, had sought a 10-day remand to interrogate the former top election official. After hearing arguments from the prosecution, Magistrate Mostafizur Rahman approved a four-day remand.
The case was filed by BNP National Executive Committee member Md. Salahuddin Khan on June 22 at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, naming 24 individuals, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and three former Chief Election Commissioners, for alleged vote rigging, misuse of power, and election engineering in three successive national elections.
According to the case complaint, Sheikh Hasina’s government came to power in 2009 by removing the caretaker government system with the help of then-Chief Justice Khairul Haque. The system had been in place to ensure free and fair elections.
The complaint alleges that Nurul Huda, appointed as CEC in February 2017, played a key role in facilitating a rigged 2018 general election, ignoring repeated appeals by the opposition, including the BNP-led Jatiya Oikya Front, for electoral reforms and a neutral administration.
Opposition candidates and supporters were reportedly obstructed, attacked, and arrested during the campaign period. The case further claims that law enforcement and ruling party affiliates stuffed ballot boxes in broad daylight, preventing a fair vote.
Despite being the head of a constitutionally independent institution, Nurul Huda and his fellow commissioners are accused of violating electoral codes, enabling election fraud, and allegedly accepting financial benefits from political leaders, including then-PM Hasina.
The complaint also accuses Huda of complicity in the 2024 election, despite his official tenure having ended, by providing strategic support to his successor Kazi Habibul Awal and the current Election Commission, who allegedly oversaw another manipulated election that ensured an Awami League victory.
