United News of Bangladesh

The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday upheld the candidacy of BNP candidate Mohammad Aslam Chowdhury (Chattogram-4), rejecting the appeal petitions submitted by several banks to cancel his candidature on ground of loan default. The Commission, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, passed the order in the afternoon, hearing the petitions filed by Trust Bank, Bank Asia and Jamuna Bank. Aslam Chowdhury was a borrower from Trust Bank, while he was a guarantor over loans taken from two other banks. The EC, as the Electoral Appeal Tribunal, on January 10 started hearing and disposing of the appeal petitions filed by aggrieved persons against the decisions of the returning officers on the acceptance and cancellation of nomination papers. The Commission will settle all the 645 appeals by today (Sunday).  

Barrister Rumeen Farhana, an independent candidate for the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency, on Saturday quarrelled with an executive magistrate over an alleged violation of the election code of conduct. The violation was related to holding a campaign rally before the official campaign period. The incident occurred in the Islamabad (Gogad) area of Noagaon Union under Sarail upazila when Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Shahria Hasan Khan went to stop the rally. In a video that went viral on social media, it was seen that Rumeen Farhana became agitated when the magistrate attempted to discuss the alleged violation. She told him, “This is the last time, I am warning you, I will not listen to this. Today I am leaving just for politeness and I will not do it in the future.” She and her supporters also alleged that others are violating the code of conduct but the administration did not take action against them. At one stage, she warned the magistrate, saying, “If I do not allow you, you cannot leave this place, Sir, mind it.” She also said, “Those whose words you are following now, they used to stay under the bed by holding their ears during Sheikh Hasina's time. I am Rumeen Farhana, I do not need any party." Executive Magistrate Shahria Hasan Khan said the rally violated Rule 18 of the election code of conduct. “As the programme was against the rules, we went there and asked them to stop holding the rally,” he said. According to Section 18 of the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates in Parliamentary Elections Rule, 2025, the electioneering can be conducted from three weeks before the polling day until 48 hours prior to the start of voting, subject to compliance with the prescribed conditions. “Outside the stipulated campaign period, national and international days can be observed as well as religious, social and similar events can be organised without hampering the electoral environment and in compliance with the code of conduct. However, prior consent or permission from the returning officer concerned must be obtained,” said a circular signed by EC Deputy Secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain. The executive magistrate added that after the rally was stopped, its organiser, Md Jewel, was fined Tk 40,000. “The candidate left the spot without being able to hold the rally and behaved disrespectfully towards me,” the magistrate said, adding that the matter had been reported to the Additional District Magistrate.

The Election Commission on Saturday cleared the way for more 44 previously rejected candidates to return to the electoral race after hearing their appeal petitions. Besides, the EC cancelled the candidacy of BNP’s Monzurul Ahsan Munshi and upheld that of National Citizen Party (NCP) candidate Abul Hasnat, popularly known as Hasnat Abdullah, in Cumilla-4. The Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, heard appeal petitions filed by both candidates against each other and passed its order. The EC accepted the appeal filed by Hasnat against the candidature of Monzurul Ahsan related to loan default, but turned down the appeal filed by Monzurul Ahsan, declaring the candidacy of Hasnat valid for the upcoming national election scheduled for February 12 next. On Saturday, the EC, that acts as the electoral appeal tribunal heard more than 100 appeals filed by aggrieved persons at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city. Of them, the Commission accepted 45 petitions including one against (the validity of Monzurul Ahsan Munshi), while rejecting 37 other petitions, and kept 21 pending to be settled on Sunday (the last day). Among the pending petitions, many appeals related to dual citizenship issue as the Commission is likely to pass a similar order for all such petitions on Sunday. With the 44 aspirants who regained candidacy, some 400 candidates returned to the electoral race in the last eight days after the EC started hearing of the appeals filed by aggrieved persons and organizations challenging the decisions of the returning officers over the acceptance and cancellation of nomination papers during the scrutiny. The Commission will settle all the 645 appeals petitions by Sunday (January 18). According to the EC, a total of 2,568 aspirants submitted nomination papers to contest the upcoming national election from the country’s 300 constituencies by the December 29 deadline. After scrutiny, returning officers declared 1,842 nomination papers valid and rejected 723, triggering the 645 appeals.

Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah on Thursday said the Election Commission (EC) has found no evidence of any irregularities in the postal ballots sent to expatriate Bangladeshis abroad reviewing several video clips circulating on social media regarding the distribution of postal ballots. “So far, we’ve received video clips from three locations…. The Commission examined them very seriously, but no evidence of any deviation has been found in those videos,” Sanaullah said. The election commissioner made the remarks while briefing reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city on Thursday evening. He said some political parties have already expressed reactions over the issue, prompting the Commission to take immediate steps to verify the matter. “To understand the actual situation, we contacted all the relevant embassies today.” Sanaullah said the EC will not make any compromise with the integrity of the postal balloting system. “There will be no leniency for anyone concerning postal ballots,” he said. Earlier on Tuesday, BNP raised concerns before the Election Commission over the viral videos related to the distribution of postal ballots sent to expatriates. The Election Commissioner said a total of 767,084 postal ballots were dispatched for the expatriate voters. Of them, 707,500 ballots have already reached the destinations in different countries and 59,584 others are on transition. Based on QR code scans, around 140,873 expatriate voters have already received their ballots. He said some ballots have been returned undelivered due to incorrect addresses in foreign lands. So far, 4,521 ballots have been returned, mostly from Malaysia, followed by Italy. Sanaullah said a large number of expatriate voters use shared addresses due to living in limited accommodation without individual mailing addresses, particularly in labour-intensive destinations in the Middle East and Malaysia. Some 171,680 voters used an address shared by two voters, while 95,816 voters used addresses shared by up to five voters, 59,276 voters used addresses shared by up to 10 voters, 38,109 voters used addresses shared by up to 20 voters, 21,915 voters used addresses shared by 20 to 50 voters, 14,891 voters used addresses shared by 100 or more voters, he said.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman has disclosed assets worth nearly Tk 15 million and an annual income of Tk 360,000 in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, as he filed his nomination papers for the upcoming national election. According to the affidavit, Shafiqur Rahman has Tk 6,076,497 in cash and owns 10 bhori of gold. He also owns a duplex house built on 11.77 decimals of land in his own name, valued at Tk 2.7 million. The Jamaat chief owns 2.17 acres of agricultural land, valued at Tk 1.771 million, and earns Tk 300,000 annually from the agricultural sector. The estimated value of his total assets (movable and immovable) stands at Tk 14,999,474 as shown as the income tax return for the fiscal year of 2025-26. He owns a vehicle valued at Tk 450,000, electric goods valued at Tk 200,000 and furniture worth Tk 240,000. Shafiqur Rahman described himself as a medical professional and stated his academic qualification is MBBS. He is accused in two criminal cases which are now postponed by the High Court.  He was accused in 32 other criminal cases in the past, but he was acquitted or relieved from many cases, while some cases were withdrawn.    The Jamaat Ameer submitted his nomination paper from the Dhaka-15 constituency to contest the 13th parliamentary election scheduled to be held on February 12, 2026. On his behalf, a three-member team handed over the nomination paper to Md Yunus Ali, the returning officer for Dhaka-13 and 15 constituency and also Dhaka Regional Election Officer,  at the latter’s office in the Electoral Training Institute in the capital’s Agargaon area. Jamaat assistant secretaries general Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair and Abdul Halim and central executive committee member Mobarak Hossain were the delegation members. The Election Commission on December 11 announced the schedule to arrange the 13th parliament election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on February 12 next. According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination paper is December 29, while the scrutiny of nomination paper is on December 30-January 4 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is January 20. The election campaign will start on January 22 and continue till 48 hours before the balloting period (7:30am on February 10).    

The submission deadline for nomination papers for Bangladesh’s upcoming national election closed at 5:00 pm on Monday, with most candidates filing their papers on time. Most of the aspirants submitted their nomination papers today as only 166 nomination papers were filed till Sunday to contest the 13th parliamentary election scheduled to be held on February 12, 2026. However, the number of aspirants who submitted nomination papers to contest from the country’s 300 constituencies will be informed by the Election Commission once the compilation is done following gleaning the data from the 69 returning officers in the election. Jamaat Sec Gen Parwar submits nomination paper According to the EC’s Central Coordination Committee, a total of 3,144 nomination papers were collected to run the polls from the country’s 300 constituencies till Sunday after the election schedule announced on December 11 last. Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on December 11 announced the schedule to hold the 13th parliament election and the referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order simultaneously on February 12 next. According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination paper is December 29, while the scrutiny of nomination paper is on December 30-January 4 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is January 20. No approval needed for repair, renovation of polling stations: EC The election campaign will start on January 22 and continue till 48 hours before the balloting period (7:30am on February 10). This time the Commission appointed 69 returning officers –two divisional commissioners (Dhaka and Chattogram), three regional election officers (Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna) and 64 district deputy commissioners. The collection and submission of nomination papers started on December 12, a day after the announcement of the election schedule.  

British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke on Monday reaffirmed the UK's support for free, fair, credible and peaceful elections in Bangladesh in 2026. “I reaffirmed the UK's support for free, fair, credible and peaceful elections here in Bangladesh next year,” she said while talking to reporters after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin at the latter's office in the city's Nirbachan Bhaban. Sarah Cooke said the UK welcomes the announcement of the national election by the Chief Adviser a few months ago. Chevening prog reflects strong Dhaka-London partnership: Sarah Cooke Notting that she had a very good meeting with the chief of the Election Commission, she said, “We commend the efforts of the Election Commission and the interim government.” The envoy said the UK along with its international partners is supporting the Election Commission, particularly through national civic education programmes and particularly for vulnerable groups here in the country, and also the training of polling staff. So, the agenda of the meeting was to discuss the UK's support to the Election Commission, she added.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said political parties have no doubt anymore that the next national election will be held in February 2026.   “The Chief Adviser’s speech at the United Nations on the election was quite strong, and from what he has said in recent days about it, we, the political parties, have no doubt anymore, and we are convinced that the election will be held in February 2026,” he said.   Fakhrul made the remarks while talking to reporters at a hotel in New York on Friday afternoon.    Earlier in the day, he was seen standing beside Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus while he delivered his speech at the 80th United Nations General Assembly.    Replying to a question about Jamaat-e-Islami’s campaign for proportional representation (PR), he said BNP’s stance is clear. “We are not in favour of PR in the lower house, and we have also not spoken about PR in the upper house. These are issues we can discuss and resolve later.”   BNP races to finalise seat sharing with allies for polls   In his speech, the BNP leader said the Chief Adviser spoke openly about why the interim government was formed and how it took responsibility when a vacuum was created after a mass uprising last year.     “Amidst a vacuum created after the mass uprising, we, the political parties and the students, entrusted them with that responsibility,” he said.   Within one year, Fakhrul said, the interim government has tried to bring the country back from a terrible situation in politics and the economy. “These points came out clearly in his speech.”    He said Prof Yunus also spoke about how his government began the work and how, through those efforts, they tried to bring the economy back to a stable state.   The BNP leader said the Chief Adviser also talked about the demands for reforms in politics and the state structure.   Fakhrul recalled that BNP has long been talking about reforms in politics and governance.   PR election system may fuel instability, autocracy, warns Salahuddin   “You know that our leader Begum Khaleda Zia presented Vision 2030 in 2016, stressing the need for change in the state structure and politics. Similarly, our acting chairman Tarique Rahman announced a 31-point programme in 2022, also calling for changes in the state and economic structure,” he said.   The BNP leader said their party realised the necessity of reforms as the Awami League brought the country to such a situation that it would be difficult to pull the state back up without fundamental changes—both in the state structure and in the economy.   Fakhrul praised the Chief Adviser for taking the opposition political parties to the UNGA with him. “We are very happy that, for the first time, he (the Chief Adviser) involved the opposition political parties in the government’s activities and took them to the United Nations.”   The BNP leader said the main objective of the Chief Adviser was to manifest the unity of the nation through joining the UNGA with the opposition political leaders.   “I believe this is a unique effort. In the context of Bangladesh, this was very necessary, and he has taken that initiative,” he said.   Fakhrul said their party has extended full cooperation to the interim government.

BNP senior leader Dr AZM Zahid Hossain on Thursday said their party will very soon finalise nominations for the upcoming national election, giving priority to candidates who are popular among people and score high in internal surveys. “BNP is a large party and the number of nomination seekers is 10 times more than that of available seats,” he said. Talking to reporters after paying tribute to BNP founder Ziaur Rahman at his grave, Zahid also said that the party will rely on input from local and district-level leaders as well as internal surveys to decide who will get the nomination and who will not. “More importantly, those who are most popular in their respective areas and loved by the people will be nominated by BNP. InshAllah, you will see that the BNP top leadership will very soon make a final decision regarding its nominations based on these factors,” he said. Zaid, a BNP Standing Committee member, also said no one has so far received either a green or red signal regarding nomination from the party. No compromise with Awami League, reaffirms Rizvi He said some speculative news has recently been circulated on social media and in some newspapers about certain candidates getting a green signal. “Our party’s Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has already said that the party has not yet nominated anyone. The announcement will be made at the appropriate time.” Zahid said BNP leaders and activists across the country are going door to door at the call of Tarique Rahman, reaching out to voters and the public with the 31-point programme. “They are fully engaged in this task, and there is vibrant activity going on. He said their party has started various activities related to the election preparation since the fall of the Awami League regime. Dr Zahid said BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman is set to return to the country “very soon” to lead what he said is the final phase of the struggle to restore democracy. “I have said this before, and I repeat now — Inshallah, within a few weeks, you will see Tarique Rahman return. He will not be coming back merely to oversee BNP’s electoral process, but to lead the final stage of the struggle to restore democracy,” he added. Following the political crackdown after the 1/11 changeover, Tarique Rahman has been living in exile in London with his family since 2008. BNP trashes Kolkata media report as ‘blatantly false and fabricated’ Prof Zahid, along with leaders and activists of the Diploma Pharmacist Association of Bangladesh, placed floral wreaths at the grave of Ziaur Rahman at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar to pay tribute to him, marking World Pharmacists Day. Professor Zahid urged the country’s people to remain alert about the plots and evil activities of the defeated fascist forces and their associates. He also said BNP is fully prepared to counter any local or international conspiracies against the country and to take part in the upcoming national election. The BNP leader reaffirmed the party’s commitment to implementing its 31-point programme for state reforms to build a new democratic Bangladesh with the support of the people. “The BNP has always been vocal in defending people’s rights, and it will continue to be so.” In response to a question about the reported harassment of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and leaders of two other political parties by the Awami League followers in New York, he said, “The history of the Awami League and its leaders has never been on the side of the people. “They believe in the politics of vengeance and in ruling over the people by force. They treat this country as if it were their ancestral property…Their forefathers committed injustices, and they continue to do the same. But one thing must be remembered that in the end, the people know how to resist them and reject them,” the BNP leader added.

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has reaffirmed his government's commitment to conducting one of the most transparent and credible elections in the country’s history, set for early February.  He expressed the hope that international observers would be present to ensure the integrity of the electoral process in Bangladesh.  The Chief Adviser held a series of high-level meetings with prominent global leaders on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday. The Prime Minister of Australia, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, the former President of Chile and the current Foreign Minister of Uruguay were among those he met. Prof Yunus briefly exchanged greetings with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following their attendance at the UNGA's inaugural session, said Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam.  Their short conversations touched on key topics, including reforms, undertaken by the interim government, the upcoming general election in Bangladesh and the growing Bangladeshi diaspora in Australia. Prof Yunus seeks WTO support for Bangladesh’s smooth LDC graduation Prime Minister Albanese spoke warmly of the Bangladeshi community’s growing contributions to Australia, particularly in his own constituency.  He recalled attending a commemoration of Language Martyrs’ Day on February 21 several years ago. Later, Prof Yunus met Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, who also serves as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.  The discussion focused on expanding access to health insurance globally, particularly in the Global South. They explored innovations in the financial sector, including life and health insurance, long-term savings, and pension schemes—and emphasised the importance of financial inclusion.  Prof Yunus highlighted the urgent need for credit access tailored to maternal healthcare, especially during pregnancy.  He proposed the use of digital health check-ups to connect rural women with top medical professionals, which could save countless lives. Security measures for Prof Yunus, his entourage reinforced in NY During the meeting, Prof Yunus also called for a restructuring of the global pharmaceutical industry, urging for more drug manufacturers to operate as social business enterprises. “Vaccines produced by social business drug manufacturers will remain affordable,” said Prof Yunus. The Chief Adviser invited Queen Máxima to visit Bangladesh at a mutually convenient time. Catharina-Amalia, the Princess of Orange, also joined the meeting. Prof Yunus also met Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. Their discussions  covered a range of shared priorities and recent global health developments. Later in the day, the Chief Adviser participated in two key events: one on Fashion for Development and another focusing on public and private sector collaboration in social innovation.