Sheikh Hasina says she plans to remain in India, her supporters will boycott Bangladesh polls

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Reuters on Wednesday that she plans to stay in India, where she is in exile.

While Hasina expressed a desire to eventually return to Bangladesh, she said that it would only happen under certain conditions.

“I would of course love to go home, so long as the government there was legitimate, the constitution was being upheld, and law and order genuinely prevailed,” she told Reuters in an interview.

The ousted leader also warned that millions of her supporters will boycott the upcoming general election in Bangladesh unless her party, the Awami League, is allowed to participate, Reuters reported.

Hasina had resigned as the prime minister and fled to India on August 5, 2024, after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her government. She had been in power for 16 years.

Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on August 8, 2024.

The country is scheduled to hold its first elections since her ouster in February 2026.

She called the decision to bar the Awami League from contesting the 2026 polls unjust and warned that it could undermine the legitimacy of the vote.

“The next government must have electoral legitimacy,” she said. “Millions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote....

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