33 joint secretaries who served as DC in 2018 elections made OSDs

The officials, deputy commissioners during the 2018 election, serve in different ministries and departments

The interim government has made 33 joint secretaries, who previously served as deputy commissioners and returning officers during the 2018 general election, as officers on special duty, or OSD.

The public administration ministry issued separate notifications on Wednesday ordering their reassignment as OSDs.

Md Mansur Hossain, the ministry’s spokesperson, said: “The notification has been issued, transferring 33 officials and designating them as officers on special duty (joint secretary) under the public administration ministry.”

Officials from the ministry noted that they were deputy secretaries at the time of the 2018 elections and served as DCs overseeing the polls.

During the tenure of the ousted Awami League government, the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami alliance and like-minded groups boycotted both the 2014 and 2024 parliamentary elections.

However, they participated in the 2018 election, which was marred by allegations that ballot boxes were stuffed with pre-marked votes the night before, securing Awami League’s victory.

Earlier in the day, Information and Broadcasting Advisor Nahid Islam had hinted at action against these officials.

Speaking at the closing session of the Festival of Youth at the Press Institute of Bangladesh, he said: “Those who served as accomplices to fascism in the past, engaged in corruption, and worked against the people during the 2014 and 2018 elections despite holding government and administrative positions—action will be taken against them soon.

“Efforts are underway to bring these individuals to justice at all levels,” he added.

Nahid also said: “Fascist collaborators are still embedded in different sectors. During the movement, we may have seen police officers committing crimes on camera, but within the state apparatus, different factions of fascist forces operated.

“Even now, remnants of fascist tendencies and ideology persist in different areas of society and the state. Our fight against them continues.”

Amid the shift in power, the Election System Reform Commission summoned 30 returning officers and assistant returning officers on Dec 9 to discuss the irregularities in the 10th, 11th, and 12th parliamentary elections.

Commission chief Badiul Alam Majumdar said at the time, “They shared their experiences and said they had little control over the situation. The real manipulation happened elsewhere.

“In a way, they were helpless. However, junior officials raised questions about their senior officers. Ultimately, they revealed that our country had turned into a ‘police state’.”

OSDs are usually political victims, having no work to do either in the policymaking or the implementation process of the government.