EC Removes Senior Official Sudhangshu Kumar Saha Over Illegal NID Transaction and Bribery Allegations

A senior official of the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) has been dismissed from service over allegations of illegal financial transactions related to National Identity (NID) services and attempted concealment of the offence through bribery.

According to an official notification signed by EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, Sudhangshu Kumar Saha, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Election Commission, was removed from his post after allegations were proven that he illegally collected Tk 300 during an NID correction process and later paid Tk 29,000 in bribes to suppress evidence of the incident.

The notification states that while serving as Additional Regional Election Officer in Cumilla, Sudhangshu Kumar Saha unlawfully accepted money for NID correction services. During the incident, journalists recorded video footage of the transaction. In an attempt to prevent the publication of the footage, he allegedly paid Tk 29,000 as a bribe to the concerned media personnel.

Following preliminary verification of the allegations, the official was initially suspended from duty. A departmental case (No. 04/2025) was subsequently filed against him on charges of misconduct, under the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018.

A departmental investigation later confirmed the allegations. The investigation was conducted by Md Faridul Islam, Additional Project Director of the IDEA Second Phase Project at the Election Commission Secretariat, who served as the inquiry officer.

According to the investigation report, although the accused official attempted to defend himself, his explanations were found to be unsatisfactory. Based on the findings, and following consultation with the Public Service Commission (PSC) as well as approval from the Honourable President, the Election Commission imposed the maximum penalty of dismissal from service under Rule 4(3)(c) of the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018. The dismissal has been made effective from 3 February.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has also suspended Mahfuzur Rahman, Additional Regional Election Officer of Faridpur, in a separate disciplinary action.

DBTech/HI/MUM/OR