Investigation committee unmasks ‘dummy candidate’ ploy in 2024 polls
The 2024 polls were not a genuine democratic exercise but an orchestrated event designed at the highest levels of the state as with the main opposition sitting out, the administration reportedly encouraged or propped up "independent" candidates — many of whom were aligned with the ruling party itself — to act as "dummies".
The 2024 national election in Bangladesh was marked by a strategic "misinterpretation" of democracy, where "dummy" candidates were fielded as a tactic to create a facade of competition in the absence of major opposition parties, a high-level investigation report has found.
The National Election Investigation Commission (2014, 2018, 2024), which submitted its findings to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on 12 January, revealed that after the BNP and other opposition forces boycotted the polls, the then-ruling and now-banned Awami League adopted an "ill-motivated strategy" to project the election as competitive to the domestic and international community.
According to the report, the 2024 polls were not a genuine democratic exercise but an orchestrated event designed at the highest levels of the state. With the main opposition sitting out, the administration reportedly encouraged or propped up "independent" candidates — many of whom were aligned with the ruling party itself — to act as "dummies".
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This was done to avoid a repeat of the 2014 scenario, where 153 seats were won uncontested, drawing widespread international condemnation by netizens towards Sheikh Hasina.
By fielding these dummy candidates, the Hasina regime sought to create an illusion of a multi-party contest, even though the outcomes were effectively predetermined.
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, upon receiving the report at the state guesthouse Jamuna, described the findings as a "shameless distortion of the entire process".
He noted that while the nation knew of rigging, the report unmasks the systematic way the system was twisted to write "verdicts on paper" according to the wishes of the then-regime.
He expressed that using public money to organise such elections was a "punishment" for the entire nation, who watched helplessly as their voting rights were stripped away.
Additionally, the investigation paints a grim picture of how state machinery was weaponised through systematic distortion. Beyond the fielding of dummy candidates, the report details how election management was shifted from the Election Commission to a partisan administration and police force.
The strategy was formulated at the highest levels and executed using state intelligence agencies to formulate and implement these plans.
This administrative dominance allowed for the total control of the electoral outcome under a veneer of participation.
The investigation highlights that from 2014 to 2024, the administration effectively became the primary force in conducting elections, rendering the Election Commission a secondary entity.
The 2024 "dummy" strategy was the final evolution in a decade-long erosion of voting rights, following the 2014 uncontested seats and the 2018 "midnight voting" where ballots were reportedly pre-sealed in 80% of the polling centres.
The commission — led by former High Court Justice Shamim Hasnain — emphasised that these activities "polluted" the electoral system.
