Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Monday said effective measures must be put in place at the earliest to ensure that election fraud never happens again in Bangladesh, as he received the probe report on the rigging of 2014, 2018 and 2024 elections.

The National Election Investigation Commission, formed on 29 July last year, submitted the report.

“We had heard about vote rigging. We knew some things. But they shamelessly distorted the entire process, twisted the system, and wrote verdicts on paper according to their own wishes. These findings must be presented to the nation. There needs to be a complete record,” he said after receiving the report at the state guesthouse Jamuna.

Prof Yunus said the entire nation had been punished by spending public money to conduct elections that deprived citizens of their voting rights.

“The people of this country watched helplessly but could do nothing. Those responsible must be exposed so that the people can get at least some relief. We need to know who did it and how,” he said, adding that measures must be taken to ensure that election robbery never happens again in Bangladesh.

National Election Investigation Commission Chairman Justice Shamim Hasnain as well as members Shamim Al Mamun, Kazi Mahfuzul Haque Supan, Barrister Tazrian Akram Hossain and Dr Md Abdul Alim submitted the report to the chief adviser.

Government Advisers Dr Asif Nazrul, Adilur Rahman Khan, Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki were also present on the occasion.

The Chief Adviser’s press wing, referring to the report, said between 2014 and 2024 the election system was effectively taken out of the hands of the Election Commission and placed under the control of the administration.

During this period, the administration, not the Election Commission, became the dominant force in conducting elections.

After submitting the report, the Election Investigation Commission presented details of the probe report at a press briefing hosted in front of Jamuna.

The Election Investigation Commission said the uncontested elections in 153 constituencies and the so-called “contests” in the remaining 147 seats in 2014 were fully orchestrated and carefully planned to keep the Awami League in power.

The report said that because the 2014 elections were widely criticised internationally as uncontested, the Awami League-led government under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina prepared a mega plan to present the 2018 elections as competitive.

BNP and other opposition parties failed to perceive the long-term strategy and participated in the polls.

The Election Investigation Commission estimated that in the 2018 elections, ballot papers were sealed the night before voting at nearly 80% of polling centers, ensuring the Awami League’s victory.

It also found that an immoral competition within the administration to secure wins for the Awami League led to voting rates exceeding 100% in some centers.

Learning from their mistake, BNP and other parties refrained from joining the 2024 elections.

As a result, Awami League and its allies attempted to project false competition by fielding “dummy” candidates.

The report claimed that the strategies for all three elections were formulated at the highest levels of the state and implemented using sections of the administration, police, Election Commission and intelligence agencies as instruments of the state.