82 police officers previously on election duty made OSD

Eighty-two police officers who served in elections during the Awami League government have been made Officers on Special Duty, or OSD.

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

The home ministry issued three notifications on Tuesday with this information.

Of the 82 officers, one holds the rank of additional inspector general, while 15 are superintendents of police.

The rest are deputy inspector generals, or DIGs, and additional DIGs.

Earlier, the government had withdrawn the medals of 103 officers who served in police and RAB in the 10th parliamentary elections.

The list also includes the names of former inspector generals Benazir Ahmed, Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia, and some army officers who once served in RAB.

During the tenure of the ousted Awami League government, its main rivals, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, along with other like-minded parties boycotted the 10th and 12th national elections in 2014.

However, in 2018, although they participated in the polls, there were allegations that the Awami League won the elections by sealing and stuffing the ballot boxes the night before.

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on Aug 5, 2024, in a mass uprising, the interim government is taking action against the officers who served in those elections.

In addition to withdrawing the medals of police officers and making them OSDs, 33 deputy commissioners who served as returning officers in the 11th parliamentary elections have been made OSDs.

They were last seen performing various duties as joint secretaries.