The High Court has issued a rule asking why former chief election commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal should not be granted bail.
A High Court bench of Justice Md Atwar Rahman and Justice Biswajit Debnath issued the rule on Sunday following a hearing on his bail petition.
Habibul Awal moved the High Court after a Dhaka metropolitan court rejected his bail plea.
On June 22, 2025, the BNP filed a case against 24 people, including three former chief election commissioners, over their roles in conducting the 10th, 11th and 12th parliamentary elections.
The accused include former CECs Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed, KM Nurul Huda and Kazi Habibul Awal, former election commissioners Md Abdul Mubarak, Abu Hafiz, Brig Gen (retd) Jabed Ali, Shah Newaz, Rafiqul Islam, Kabita Khanam, Brig Gen (retd) Ahsan Habib, Alamgir Hossain and Anisur Rahman, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former inspectors general of police Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, Jabed Patwary, Benazir Ahmed and AKM Shahidul Haque, former Special Branch chief Md Monirul Islam, former National Security Intelligence chief and former Dhaka Range DIG Syed Nurul Alam, and the then election secretary.
On June 25, 2025, members of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch (DB) arrested Habibul Awal from the capital's Moghbazar area.
The following day, Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mustafizur Rahman placed him on a three-day remand. He has remained in jail since then.