Bangladesh Election Commission bars deposed PM Hasina from voting

Once the most powerful voice in Bangladesh’s politics, Sheikh Hasina now finds herself silenced at the ballot box — her national identity card locked by the Election Commission, stripping the deposed leader of the very right she long championed for her people.

The upcoming general elections scheduled for February 2026.

“Anyone whose NID card has been locked cannot vote from abroad,” Election Commission secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters at Nirbachon Bhavan. “Her (Hasina’s) NID is locked,” he added, without naming others affected.

However, reports in the Dhaka Tribune and UNB news agency, citing unnamed EC officials, said that NID cards belonging to several members of Hasina’s family — including her sister Sheikh Rehana, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and daughter Saima Wazed Putul — have also been locked.

Rehana’s children, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, Azmina Siddiq, and Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, along with her brother-in-law and Hasina’s former security adviser, retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, his wife Shahin Siddique, and their daughter Bushra Siddique, are also reportedly barred from voting.

Ahmed clarified that those who fled Bangladesh to avoid justice or for other reasons could still vote if their NID cards remained active.

Hasina’s Awami League government was ousted on 5 August 2024, after a violent student-led uprising forced her to flee to India. In the aftermath, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed charge as Chief Adviser of the interim government, suspending Awami League activities pending trials of Hasina and senior party leaders.

Hasina is currently being tried in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for alleged atrocities during the July 2024 uprising.

Most top Awami League leaders remain in hiding or exile as mobs targeted and torched their properties, including the historic 32 Dhanmondi residence of Bangladesh’s founder — and Hasina’s father — Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

With PTI inputs