Kolkata: The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has alleged that former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina had taken a bribe of Rs 2,500 crore in Delhi to help cancel the next round of polls in Bangladesh scheduled to be held in February 2026.
In a press conference on 27 August at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the BNP’s secretary general, said a business group had paid the money to Hasina on behalf of those who do not want elections in Bangladesh, the local press reported.
It is not only Hasina, Alamgir alleged, but other political forces too that are engaged in cancelling the next round of elections. Alamgir said there are also certain sections within the current government that are trying to keep democratic forces from coming to power in
Bangladesh.
Such a serious allegation from a top leader of the BNP has created a stir in Dhaka’s political circles and raised doubts about the next round of elections in Bangladesh. On 5 August, Mohammad Yunus, caretaker of the Bangladesh interim government in Bangladesh had announced—in a televised address on the one-year anniversary of Hasina’s ouster—that the next general election would be held in February 2026 to kickstart the process of transferring power to an elected government.
The Awami League, meanwhile, has strongly refused the allegations made by the BNP leader.
Talking to ThePrint over the phone, senior Awami League leader and former Bangladesh information minister Professor Mohammad Ali Arafat said such an allegation is entirely baseless. “Besides, what election is Mr Alamgir referring to? Is it the one-sided, prearranged, and manipulated election that his party envisions—where they hope to secure a landslide victory by depriving the people of their democratic right to vote in an “inclusive election” that excludes the Awami League, the Jatiya Party, and the parties belonging to the 14-Party Alliance?” Arafat asked.
Also read: Dhaka flags concerns over Awami League operations from Indian soil; MEA says concerns ‘misplaced’
‘We want fair polls’
Arafat said the Awami League has no intention of foiling the next round of polls in Bangladesh. “On the contrary, we are committed to ensuring a free, fair, and inclusive electoral process—something that both the people of Bangladesh and the international community strongly desire,” he said.
Arafat added, in a truly inclusive election, where every political party is guaranteed a level playing field, the Awami League is confident of earning the people’s mandate once again. “Therefore, the question of us seeking to obstruct the election simply does not arise. It is, in fact, Mr Alamgir and his party that are attempting to undermine democracy by conspiring to hold a manipulated election, thereby depriving people of their fundamental right to vote and seeking to assume power through dishonest means,” he said.
Saddam Hussain, president of Chhatra League, Awami League’s student wing that was banned on 23 October 2024 under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 by the Yunus government, told ThePrint that the last thing the Awami League would want is to stall elections in Bangladesh.
“We have an unelected, illegal government in place that has pushed Bangladesh to the edge since 8 August last year. It is not just the Awami League but the people of Bangladesh who want free and fair elections now and an elected government in place to bring sanity
back to the country,” Hussain said.
Hussain added that, in fact, the BNP has a lot to answer for to the people of Bangladesh, given the anarchy and the lawlessness that has become normal in the country.
Bangladeshi political journalist Sahidul Hasan Khokon told ThePrint, this should not become a season for allegations and counter-allegations and all political parties should instead come to a consensus on the next round of polls. “The fact that such a senior leader of the BNP has levelled these allegations against Hasina from the Jatiya Press Club has raised eyebrows. But what Alamgir has said sounds incredulous,” Khokon said.
Khokon added that a section of the top leadership of the Awami League as well as middle-rung leaders and workers have been forced to seek refuge in other countries and many of them are under considerable financial strain. “Under such circumstances, it defies logic why Sheikh Hasina would take such a huge amount of money to not hold polls in Bangladesh. This sounds like deliberate mudslinging by the BNP without any factual basis,” he said.
Sheikh Hasina has been in India since 5 August 2024 after a student-led agitation against quotas in government jobs became a clarion call for her ouster.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Amid renewed turmoil in Bangladesh, Yunus govt issues emphatic denial of rift with Bangladesh army