Bangladesh's 33 officials of controversial 2018 elections on OSD

The government has reassigned 33 joint secretaries and equivalent officials as officers on special duty (OSDs) and attached them to the public administration ministry.

They all served as deputy commissioner (DC) as well as returning officer during the controversial parliamentary elections in 2018.

The public administration ministry made the announcement through six separate gazette notifications on Wednesday. Five notifications listed six officials each as being reassigned as OSDs, while the remaining one mentioned three officials.

The ministry noted that the orders had been issued in the public interest, without specifying any reasons.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has launched an investigation into allegations of abuse of power, fraud and financial transactions during the 11th National Parliament elections. ACC Director General Akhter Hossain recently said, investigation will be conducted against everyone involved in the election, including the Election Commission, administration, police, and RAB.