Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda has confessed before a Dhaka court to irregularities tied to the contentious 2018 national election, widely criticized for allegations of vote rigging and partisan bias.
On Tuesday afternoon, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Ziadur Rahman began recording Huda’s statement in his private chamber. The testimony concluded at 6:10 PM, confirmed a police sub-inspector assigned to the court.
Earlier, after two rounds of eight-day remand, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) inspector Syed Sajedur Rahman presented Huda before the court, noting that the former CEC had agreed to give a voluntary statement.
The case was filed on June 22 by Salah Uddin Khan, a BNP national executive committee member and coordinator on legal affairs and enforced disappearances, at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station. The lawsuit names a sweeping list of top officials, including three CECs—Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad (2014), KM Nurul Huda (2018), and Kazi Habibul Awal (2024)—along with their election commissioners.
It also implicates former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and several former Inspectors General of Police.
According to the case documents, during the 2014, 2018, and 2024 elections, BNP activists were systematically arrested under fabricated charges, abducted, forcibly disappeared, or threatened with violence—deliberately sidelining them from the electoral process. It alleges that constitutional officials violated their oaths by breaching electoral codes, unlawfully manipulating votes, intimidating voters, and fraudulently declaring winners who lacked public support.
The plaintiff claims many voters who were denied the chance to cast ballots, honest presiding officers, police personnel, and local residents could serve as key witnesses. Forensic examination of ballot papers and signatures, he argues, would further reveal the truth.
The case includes charges of sedition, fraud, and embezzlement. Nurul Huda was arrested on the day the case was filed, with his initial four-day remand later extended by another four days on June 27.
In a significant development, former CEC Kazi Habibul Awal has also been arrested and placed under police remand in connection with the same investigation.
