Bangladesh’s Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday said it has “locked” the national identity cards of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, effectively barring her from voting in the general elections scheduled for February 2026.
“Anyone whose national identity card (NID) has been locked cannot vote from abroad,” Election Commission secretary Akhtar Ahmed said at Nirbachon Bhavan. “Her (Hasina’s) NID is locked,” he added.
As per reports, the NID cards belonging to several members of Hasina’s family — including her sister Sheikh Rehana, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and daughter Saima Wazed Putul — have also been locked.
Rehana’s children, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, Azmina Siddiq, and Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, along with her brother-in-law and Hasina’s former security adviser, retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, his wife Shahin Siddique, and their daughter Bushra Siddique, are also reportedly barred from voting.
Ahmed clarified that those who fled Bangladesh to avoid justice or for other reasons could still vote if their NID cards remain active.
Hasina’s Awami League government was ousted on 5 August 2024, after a violent student-led uprising forced her to flee to India. In the aftermath, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed charge as Chief Adviser of the interim government.
Hasina is currently being tried in absentia at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, where prosecutors have sought capital punishment for alleged atrocities during the July 2024 uprising.
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Most senior Awami League leaders remain underground or in exile as mobs torched and vandalised their properties, including the 32 Dhanmondi residence of Bangladesh’s founder and Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
