EC seeks details of polling officials from last three parliamentary elections

The Election Commission has asked all divisional and district administrations to urgently submit details of polling officials involved in the 2014, 2018, and 2024 national elections amid an ongoing criminal investigation.

The Election Commission (EC) has issued letters to all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners, requesting detailed information about the polling officials who served during the 10th, 11th, and 12th parliamentary elections held under the previous Awami League government.

Signed by EC Deputy Secretary Monir Hossain, the letter was sent yesterday (20 July). It asks for the names, parental information, addresses, national identity card numbers, passport numbers, and mobile numbers of the returning officers, presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers who worked during those elections.

According to the letter, the data is being collected in relation to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station Case No-11, GR No-156/2025, filed under multiple sections of the Penal Code.

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), Dhaka Metro (North), sought the polling centre-wise information to support its investigation.

The letter noted that the EC Secretariat requires the information on an urgent basis.

The move follows a case filed by BNP on 22 June, which alleged that the EC had failed to uphold its constitutional duty during the 10th to 12th parliamentary elections. The case accused the EC of holding elections without public participation by intimidating voters.

A total of 19 individuals have been named in the case filed at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, including the three chief election commissioners and several election commissioners who served during the three elections, as well as former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Following the case, former chief election commissioners Nurul Huda and Kazi Habibul Awal were arrested.

The EC initiative to collect information came after the PBI formally requested it as part of the case investigation.

Earlier, at a National Consensus Commission meeting held on 16 June, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus reportedly directed the formation of a committee to investigate the role of former chief election officials and EC secretariat staff in conducting the three elections.