Dhaka, Jan 5 (PTI) Bangladesh’s interim government on Sunday cancelled a planned training programme for 50 judges and judicial officers in India, scrapping a previous notification.


“The notification has been cancelled,” a law ministry spokesman said without elaborating.


The Daily Star newspaper, however, reported the cancellation came in compliance with a directive from Bangladesh’s Supreme Court.


The cancellation order came a day after the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported that 50 lower judiciary judges would undergo a one-day training programme from February 10 at the National Judicial Academy and the State Judicial Academy in Madhya Pradesh.


The trainee judges selected under the programme were district and sessions judge or its equivalent officers, additional district and sessions judge, joint district judge, senior assistant judge and assistant judge.


The Indian government was supposed to bear all the expenses for the training programmes.


India and Bangladesh have witnessed strained ties since the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to New Delhi on August 5 last year following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League's 16-year regime.


There have been a series of attacks on Hindu community members and their places of worship after the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus came to power on August 8.


New Delhi has already raised concern with Dhaka, especially after a Hindu monk was arrested in a sedition case and put in jail after he was denied bail last month.


180 million people have been denied their voting rights, says Bangladesh CEC


Bangladesh’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin on Sunday said that almost 180 million people have been denied their voting rights and the Election Commission wants to end their deprivation, The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.


The CEC, while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a training programme for election officers ahead of a voter list updating exercise, said the Election Commission (EC) wants to remove the fact that the people have been deprived of the voting right for so long.


“We want to remove the pain of their deprivation. We are steadfast in our commitment,” he said.


The countrywide door-to-door data collection for updating the list of possible voters will start on January 20.


The CEC said they are here to hear the 180 million people who have been suffering from the deprivation of voting rights.


“We’ve taken the responsibility so that we can remove their deprivation,” he said.


He said the commission’s main goal is to arrange a fair and credible election.


“It’s a marathon race beginning from today up to the delivery of the result,” he said.


“Our goal, commitment and promises to the nation is to present a free, fair and credible election as the nation has been deprived of it for so long,” the CEC said.


Meanwhile, the EC has decided to investigate irregularities and shortcomings in all previous elections, including the three preceding elections that have been controversial during the Awami League-rule in 2014, 2018 and 2024.


The 2014, 2018 and 2024 national elections are widely regarded as some of the most controversial in the country’s history.


The newly formed EC, which assumed office on November 21, has already initiated several reform measures while preparing for the 13th National Election.


A few days ago, CEC Nasir Uddin said that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League may participate in elections unless the government or the judiciary issues a ban against the party.


Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, 84, who was sworn-in to lead the interim government after the ouster of Hasina in August, during his Victory Day speech on December 16 indicated that elections might be held by early 2026.


“Broadly speaking, the election can be scheduled between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026,” he said. Yunus said that the elections would be held after updating the voters’ list.


(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)