Since the ouster of the former three-time Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, in August 2024, the political landscape of Bangladesh has undergone a period of transition. Replete with formidable economic, law and order, and political instability challenges, Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Younus, fared considerably well by keeping the governance wheel moving and giving momentum to the country’s political transition process. General elections, scheduled for February 12, 2026, will be the thirteenth parliamentary election in Bangladesh, a country with a population of 170 million and over 127 million registered voters, including 4 million new voters. The people will elect their representatives to 300 seats, while 50 reserved women’s seats will be allocated according to party position. Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus has announced that he will step down from his post after the general elections are held.
Following the ban on Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL) from contesting the February 2026 elections, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) is now the largest in the country. The party leader, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, 80, is currently seriously ill. To fill the leadership vacuum, her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, has returned to the country to campaign for the election after a 17-year self-imposed exile. During Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and its student wing were subjected to the worst persecution. However, the party continued its struggle through patience, perseverance, and discipline. Sheikh Hasina had also banned the party after making baseless allegations, but this ban was lifted as soon as the interim government came to power. Despite facing severe atrocities and acts of revenge, Jamaat-e-Islami, a former political ally of the BNP, enjoys great public sympathy and is expected to win more parliamentary seats this time. The party’s student wing has won the student union elections in major universities, including Dhaka University.
As the elections approach, some unpleasant incidents have also begun to occur. Recently, Sharif Osman Hadi, a central leader of the student movement and electoral candidate for Dhaka Constituency, was shot by unknown persons during the ongoing election campaign, and the blame was placed on Sheikh Hasina’s supporters, as there was also a fear of a conspiracy to postpone the polls through inciting public riots and bloodshed. After his tragic death, violent protests started all over the country. Awami League offices and pro-India media houses were set on fire. As per the mass opinion, Osman Hadi’s killing is the handiwork of Indian intelligence agencies hell-bent on subverting the electoral process altogether, primarily out of fear that the coming government setup, similar to the interim one, will also be pro-Pakistan. Interestingly, Bangladesh is the only Muslim country whose borders do not meet any Muslim country, so any government is forced to have political and economic relations with India, and its influence on Bangladesh’s politics, economy, and society cannot be avoided, especially since Bangladesh has a sizable Hindu community as well. However, the interim government looks determined to hold the elections on time. At long last, the people of Bangladesh, bulldozed by the Indian hegemonic postures, seem to have realized the underlying reality that the pursuit of Amar Sonar Bangla cannot be achieved without the overt support of Pakistan. The watershed moment has arrived for Bangladesh to set its future directions, and the real decision will be revealed only after the election results are announced on February 12.