Bangladesh Coup: A Year Later, What Has Changed & When Are Elections Due?

Last Updated:August 04, 2025, 19:06 IST

August 5 marks one year since Sheikh Hasina's regime was overthrown in Bangladesh. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus leads the interim government.

Angry demonstrators torched police stations and government buildings during the agitation. (File pic/AP)

August 5 will mark the first anniversary of the fall of Sheikh Hasina, a turning point in the history of Bangladesh.

Hasina fled Bangladesh after a massive student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Following her ouster, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of an interim government.

What Led To The Fall of Hasina?

Protests began on July 1, 2024, with university students demanding reforms to the quota system for public sector jobs. The movement culminated on August 5, 2024, when thousands of protesters stormed Hasina’s palace as she escaped by helicopter. During the unrest, demonstrators set fire to police stations and government buildings.

Hasina’s former official residence is now being converted into a museum as a lasting reminder of her “autocratic" rule.

According to the United Nations, around 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 during the protests.

Hasina has since been formally indicted for crimes against humanity by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal.

What Has Changed?

After assuming power, the Yunus-led administration formed 11 reform commissions, including a National Consensus Commission, which is working with major political parties to shape future governments and the electoral process.

However, bickering political parties have so far failed to reach a consensus on a timetable and procedure for the elections. Mob violence, political attacks on rival groups, and rising hostility towards women’s rights and minority communities—especially by religious hardliners—have surged.

While some of the repression and fear that marked Hasina’s rule, including widespread enforced disappearances, appear to have ended, rights groups allege that the new government is using arbitrary detentions to target perceived political opponents, particularly Hasina’s supporters. Many have reportedly been forced into hiding.

Hasina’s Awami League party, which remains banned, claims that over two dozen of its supporters have died in custody over the past year.

In a statement on July 30, Human Rights Watch said the interim government “is falling short in implementing its challenging human rights agenda." The organisation noted that violations against ethnic and other minority groups have continued in parts of Bangladesh.

When Will Elections Be Held?

In a national address ahead of Eid al-Adha in June, Yunus announced that Bangladesh’s national elections would be held in the first half of April 2026.

He stated that the government had consulted all political parties to ensure the upcoming elections would be the “most free, fair, competitive, and acceptable in the country’s history." Yunus stressed that the goal was to create an electoral process that would “satisfy the souls of the martyrs" of the uprising and be remembered for its integrity.

(With inputs from agencies)

Saurabh Verma

Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19

Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19

Location :

Dhaka, Bangladesh

First Published:

August 04, 2025, 19:06 IST

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