B’desh ex-PM Hasina, family members barred from casting votes in Feb elections
Bangladesh Blocks Voting Rights for Ex-PM Sheikh Hasina and Family in 2025 Elections
In a big update from Dhaka, Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and nine of her family members won’t be able to vote in next year’s national elections. The reason? Their National Identity (NID) cards are locked, blocking them from the process, as local media like The Business Standard report.
Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed explained this to reporters on Wednesday. He said anyone with a locked NID can’t vote from abroad. "People who left Bangladesh due to legal cases or other reasons can still vote if their NID stays unlocked," Ahmed added. But for Hasina’s family, that’s not the case.
To vote from outside the country, you need to register online using your NID number. A passport just won’t cut it. Ahmed put it simply: "If your NID is locked, you can’t register. No registration means no voting." When asked directly about Hasina, he confirmed, "She cannot vote because her NID is blocked."
This all started back in April. The EC’s National Identity Registration Wing locked the NIDs of Hasina and her relatives on a verbal order from Director General ASM Humayn Kabir. The family members affected include Sheikh Rehana Siddique, Sajeeb Wazed Joy (also known as Joy), Saima Wazed, Shahnaz Siddique, Bushra Siddique, Tulip Rizwana Siddique, Azmira Siddique, Radwan Mujib Siddique, and Tarique Ahmed Siddique.
This isn’t the first blow to Hasina’s Awami League party. In July, the EC wiped the party’s election symbol off its website, aiming to end its long history in Bangladesh politics. Then, on May 12, the interim government under Muhammad Yunus issued a gazette notification banning all Awami League activities and its affiliates. They did this under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and it stays in place until trials wrap up at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
Experts see this as part of a bigger political push by Yunus’s team against Hasina and her family. They believe it’s all about keeping the Awami League out of the 2025 Bangladesh elections. Hasina’s sudden exit from power last August shocked the world and raised big questions about democracy in the country. Critics also slam the interim government for giving space to radical Islamic groups.
As Bangladesh gears up for elections, these moves add more tension to the political scene. Stay tuned for updates on how this affects the nation’s future.
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