Bangladesh Supreme Court restores non-partisan caretaker govt system for election oversight

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Thursday (November 20, 2025) ordered restoration of election time non-partisan caretaker government but said the judgment would not apply to the planned general elections to be held in February next year.

A full seven-member of the Supreme Court’s apex Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed issued the order that “restored and revived” the previous constitutional provision which was annulled during deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government.

The apex court verdict, however, specified a phased implementation of the system, saying it would not apply to the planned 13th parliamentary polls, keeping the now disbanded Awami League out of the election fray.

The caretaker system was introduced in 1996 and two subsequent elections led by two retired chief justices oversaw the widely accepted polls within 90 days and transferred power to the winners.

The third consequent election in 2008 was held under a military-backed interim government led by a former central bank governor in a peaceful manner which brought Hasina’s now disbanded Awami League government, which scrapped the system with its overwhelming majority in parliament.

The three subsequent elections held under the Awami League regime sparked massive controversy over complaints of manipulations. Hasina’s arch rival and another former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted elections in 2014 and 2024, demanding the restoration of the caretaker government system.

Hasina’s government was toppled in a violent student-led protest on August 5, 2024, about seven months after it was re-elected in what the opposition termed as questionable polls in January.

The verdict said the caretaker system, originally inserted through the 13th constitutional amendment of 1996, was “activated and revived,” binning a 2011 apex court judgment during the past regime saying that verdict was “tainted by several cited errors apparent on the face of the record.” According to the verdict, Muhammad Yunu’s existing interim government would oversee the planned February election while the subsequent one would be held under the restored caretaker government system.

“Under the Constitution, the caretaker government must be formed within 15 days of the dissolution of Parliament. Since Parliament was dissolved more than a year ago, the required process cannot be initiated,” lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan, who had earlier filed a writ seeking restoration of the system, said.