Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda has admitted that Bangladesh’s intelligence agencies, aided by Awami League activists, carried out widespread vote rigging during the 2018 general election — keeping the Election Commission in the dark and leaving it powerless to intervene.
Nurul Huda, a former secretary, served as Bangladesh’s 12th CEC from February 15, 2017, made the confession under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in a statement recorded Tuesday evening (July 1) by a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate. The court session began in the private chamber of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ziadur Rahman.
The testimony was confirmed by case investigator Sub-Inspector Shamsuzzoha Sarkar of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.
According to the statement, Huda said ruling Awami League leaders and activists, with logistical and strategic support from intelligence agencies, completed the voting process the night before election day by taking control of polling stations, aided by loyal police officers, returning officers, and assistant returning officers.
“When I realized this had happened, it was already too late,” Huda told the court. “After election day, I learned that in some centers, voter turnout ranged from 30 to 100 percent. It became clear that the voting had been done the night before, completely sidelining the Election Commission.”
The former CEC expressed remorse, stating, “I was anguished by what happened. But after the results were gazetted, I had neither the authority nor the means to cancel the election.”
Huda alleged that field officials operated under the then Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed, who acted on behalf of the government to influence local election officials. “In such a situation, there was nothing I alone could do,” he said.
He also squarely blamed intelligence agencies for organizing the night voting and said the ruling party completed the process without informing the EC.
Huda was arrested on June 22 after local residents detained him at his home in Dhaka’s Uttara and handed him over to police. The next day, he was placed on a four-day remand in a case filed by BNP executive committee member Md Salah Uddin Khan at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station. The case accuses three former CECs — Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, Nurul Huda, and Kazi Habibul Awal — along with 21 others, of rigging elections and abusing state power.
Following his initial remand, Huda was sent to another four-day remand on June 27. Separately, former CEC Kazi Habibul Awal was also arrested and placed on remand.
On June 25, sedition, fraud, and embezzlement charges were added to the case, which centers on allegations that from the 2014 to the 2024 parliamentary elections, voters were intimidated, abducted, or murdered to keep BNP supporters away from the polls.
On July 2, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sefat Ullah denied the bail plea filed by Huda's lawyer, Tawhidul Islam Sajeeb.
