'Illegal Election Commission': Hasina's Bangladesh Awami League Rejects Poll Schedule Over Exclusion

Last Updated:December 12, 2025, 07:06 IST

The Bangladesh Awami League has rejected the election schedule, accusing the “illegal government’s illegal Election Commission” of operating under a biased authority.

A file photo of Sheikh Hasina (AP)

The Bangladesh Awami League on Thursday issued a statement rejecting the election schedule announced by what it called the “illegal government’s illegal Election Commission", escalating its confrontation with the authorities ahead of the planned national polls.

In the formal declaration released from its headquarters at 23 Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka, the party said it had “closely reviewed the election schedule announced by the illegal, occupying, killer-fascist Yunus clique’s illegal Election Commission".

It also asserted that the current administration was “entirely biased" and incapable of ensuring any environment where transparency or voters’ will could be reflected.

“The Bangladesh Awami League has closely reviewed the election schedule announced by the illegal, occupying, killer-fascist Yunus clique’s illegal Election Commission," the statement read.

“It is now clear that the current occupying authority is entirely biased, and that under their control it is impossible to ensure a fair and normal environment where transparency, neutrality, and the people’s will can be reflected," it added.

Positioning itself as the country’s most historically validated political force, the Awami League underscored that elections remain the “measure of public popularity" and reiterated its self-identification as an election-oriented party.

It highlighted its long participation record, noting that it has contested 13 elections, “winning 9 of them and forming the government".

The party alleged that the election schedule was announced with the deliberate intention of excluding it from the political process.

“Attempting to hold an election while excluding the Bangladesh Awami League, the party that led the Liberation War, along with other political parties and the majority of the population, is a scheme to push the country and the nation into a deep crisis," the statement warned.

The Awami League demanded the withdrawal of all restrictions placed upon it, including the release of political prisoners and the lifting of “all fabricated cases against Bangabandhu’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina, national leaders, and people from all walks of life".

It insisted that “harassment must be withdrawn, all political prisoners must be released unconditionally, and the current deceitful occupying government must be replaced with a neutral caretaker government to hold a free and participatory election".

Concluding its statement, the party declared its unequivocal rejection of the announced election schedule, asserting that it fails to include “representatives of the majority of the country’s people."

The document ended with the slogans: “Joy Bangla" and “Joy Bangabandhu."

Bangladesh will hold national polls on February 12, the electoral commission announced Thursday, the country’s first vote since a student-led uprising toppled Hasina last year.

A referendum on a landmark democratic reform charter will also be held on the same day, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said in a television broadcast to the nation.

The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown in August 2024, ending her 15-year autocratic rule.

Her former ruling party, Awami League, has been banned from running.

The country’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who returned from exile in August 2024 at the behest of protesters to lead a caretaker government, will step down after the polls.

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