Ousted Bangladesh PM's party barred from polls, India 'concerned'

Bangladesh suspends ousted PM's party, Awami League, from future polls, sparking concern from India.

Bangladesh's election commission has suspended the registration of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's political party, barring its participation in future polls, a decision described as "concerning" by India on Tuesday (May 13, 2025).

It came after the interim Government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus banned the Awami League party on Sunday (May 11, 2025), pending the outcome of a trial over its crackdown on mass protests that prompted Hasina's ouster last year.

The Awami League is the oldest political party in Bangladesh and led the country's liberation war in 1971.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 protesters died in July-August 2024, when Ms. Hasina's Government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition. Ms. Hasina, 77, remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity.

"The ban on the Awami League is a concerning development," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi. "We strongly support the holding of free, fair and inclusive elections in Bangladesh," he added.

Akhtar Ahmed, senior secretary of the Bangladesh Election Commission, said the suspension followed a recommendation from the home ministry. "The home ministry has imposed a ban on all sorts of organisational activities of the Bangladesh Awami League and the organisations aligned with it," he told reporters late Monday (May 12, 2025). "In continuation of that decision, the Election Commission has decided to suspend the AL's registration with the commission."

Mr. Yunus, 84, has said parliamentary elections will be held as early as December, and by June 2026 at the latest.