Bangladesh did not ban India as an election observer

Posts on social media falsely claimed that Bangladesh banned India from observing its elections. In fact, Dhaka invited New Delhi to send observers as it prepared for its historic elections on February 12.

One such claim, posted to X (formerly Twitter) on February 11 by the account ‘Ironclad’, read: “Bangladesh bans India as an observer country in its elections, but Pakistan and China will participate.” The post was widely shared and seen nearly 50,000 times.

Identical posts using the same image and words were published by multiple other accounts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). An analysis of the accounts found that four are operated from South Asia and two from Pakistan.

Media reports from Bangladesh and India confirm that Bangladesh invited India to send election observers.

For instance, Firstpost reported on February 4 that Dhaka invited New Delhi to observe the elections. While India had not confirmed its participation at that time, over 330 international observers had affirmed attendance.

India Today, also reported that Bangladesh invited India to observe the elections.

According to bdnews24.com, India was among the countries invited by the Election Commission. Desh Rupantor noted that several countries—including India, France, and Australia—had received formal invitations but had not yet confirmed whether they would send observers.

Other invited countries included Brazil, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Romania, and FEMBOSA—none had responded at the time.

Bangladesh’s interim government reported that 394 international observers and 197 foreign journalists were present to observe the general election and referendum.

There is no evidence that Bangladesh banned India as an observer. The claim spreading on social media is false.