The culmination of Bangladesh’s student-led July Movement, which precipitated the unceremonious ousting of Sheikh Hasina’s entrenched 15-year rule, ushered in an era of political transition under the aegis of an interim government.

This administration, initially composed of 16 advisors before its subsequent augmentation to 21, was entrusted with two cardinal responsibilities: first, to oversee critical state reforms aimed at reviving an efficacious democratic framework; and, second, to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections to facilitate a seamless political transition. Although it was met with widespread approbation at its inception—garnering endorsement from various political quarters with the conspicuous exception of the Awami League—the intervening six months have gradually unveiled the labyrinthine complexities and mounting pressures that now threaten to engulf the interim government in crisis.

From its very inception, the Yunus-led administration was burdened with the onerous inheritance of the malfeasances, inefficiencies, and political entanglements bequeathed by its predecessor. Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus was supposed to have embarked on an ambitious crusade of reform, making it the centrepiece of his governance. Instead, he is confronted with strident political clamour for elections, most vocally articulated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

While BNP initially expressed confidence in the interim administration, it remained steadfast in its assertion that the government’s mandate was not interminable. The urgency of this demand was underscored by a mass mobilisation orchestrated by the BNP—the largest since Hasina’s ouster—urging an expeditious return to electoral democracy. Public sentiment mirrored this exigency, with........

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