BNP Nominates Khaleda Zia for Three Seats

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced preliminary nominations for roughly 237 of 300 parliamentary seats (some reports said 232), saying former prime minister Khaleda Zia, 80, will run in the national election expected in February. The list was unveiled by Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a Gulshan briefing and may be revised. Zia was nominated for three constituencies — Bogura-7 and Feni-1 were consistently reported, while outlets differ on whether her third seat is Dinajpur-3 or Dinajpur-1. Acting party chair Tarique Rahman, who has lived in Britain since 2008, was nominated for Bogura-6 and has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him related to a 2004 grenade attack. The announcement follows Zia’s release after years of imprisonment amid declining health; she served three terms as prime minister and was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Sheikh Hasina’s government, which was toppled in August 2024.