DHAKA: The head of Bangladesh’s elections resigned on Thursday, citing a lack of political meddling in the votes held in January that reinstated the country’s despotic ruler, Sheikh Hasina, who has since left the country following a student-led uprising.
Citing the removal of the former premier as justification, Kazi Habibul Awal and the four other election commissioners in the nation submitted their resignations.
They are the most recent in a line of Hasina-appointed public servants to resign from their positions following her departure, which also includes judges and the head of the central bank.
Awal told reporters, “Given the changed scenario of the country, I and the other commissioners intended to resign.”
The January election that the five commissioners oversaw ensured Hasina would serve a fourth consecutive term and that her Awami League party and its allies would hold a near monopoly on seats.
The largest opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotted the vote due to low turnout and hundreds of members being jailed in a preemptive crackdown.
Governments in the West and human rights organizations denounced the vote as unfair and unfree.
According to Awal, however, the vote itself was carried out in an honest manner because there was no real political opposition to Hasina.
He remarked, “Like-minded parties and the main opposition party BNP didn’t participate.” “There was no need to influence the election because it was a one-party election.”
BD objected
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry announced on Thursday that it had officially protested to India over the killing of a young girl who was found shot dead close to the border, referring to it as a “ruthless act.”
In a protest note addressed to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh “strongly protested and condemned such ruthless acts,” the foreign ministry said. “Stop repetition of such heinous acts,” it demanded of India.
Following Indian police’ return of the 13-year-old girl’s body to Bangladesh, there was a protest. The girl’s age was initially reported by Indian officials to be 14.
