BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will contest from three parliamentary constituencies in the next national election — marking the first time she will run from her birthplace, Dinajpur.

On Monday, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party announced her name as the candidate for Feni-1, Bogura-7, and Dinajpur-3 constituencies, all under the party’s iconic paddy sheaf symbol.

The announcement came at a media briefing at the BNP chairperson’s office in Gulshan, where Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir read out the names of candidates for 237 constituencies.

Under the electoral laws, a candidate may contest in up to five constituencies. Khaleda, a three-time former prime minister, has previously contested in five seats and has never been defeated.

Khaleda’s ancestral home is in Feni, while her late husband, BNP founder and former president Ziaur Rahman, hailed from Bogura.

Though Khaleda was born, raised and educated in Dinajpur, she has never run for office there before. In the past, her elder sister Khurshid Jahan Haque contested from Dinajpur-3 in both the 1996 and 2001 elections.

BOGURA STRONGHOLD

Bogura, the birthplace of Ziaur Rahman, has long been considered a BNP stronghold since the party’s inception. Khaleda has been contesting in two constituencies in Bogura — Bogura-6 (Sadar) and Bogura-7 (Gabtali and Shahjahanpur) — since 1991, never once losing an election.

Of the 12 general elections held in the Bogura-7 constituency, BNP candidates have won six times (five by Khaleda herself), followed by three victories by the Bangladesh Jatiya Party, two by the Awami League, and one independent win by a BNP-backed candidate.

Khaleda has personally retained the Bogura-6 seat four times while vacating Bogura-7. In the 2008 by-election, Moudud Ahmed won from Bogura-7, while Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu, a member of the BNP chairperson’s advisory council, won the remaining three times (1991, June 1996 and 2001).

For the next election, Khaleda’s son and Acting BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman has been nominated for Bogura-6.

At a nomination seekers’ meeting held at the BNP central office in Dhaka on Oct 11, Tarique joined virtually. A total of 22 local leaders from Bogura’s seven constituencies attended the meeting.

Three days later, five were instructed to strengthen campaign activities — though no calls were made regarding Bogura-6 and Bogura-7, sparking speculation that members of the Zia family would run there.

FENI CONNECTION

The Feni-1 constituency, covering Chhagalnaiya, Phulgazi, and Parshuram Upazilas, has been dominated by BNP for most of the past five decades.

Khaleda Zia, whose ancestral home lies in Feni, has been elected from this seat five times — in 1991, February 1996, June 1996, 2001, and 2008. Locals often chant, “Fenir meye Khaleda, gorbo moder alada” (Khaleda, the daughter of Feni, our pride).

When she vacated the seat after the 2001 election, her younger brother Sayeed Eskander won the subsequent by-election.

The BNP boycotted the 2014 polls, and Khaleda was barred from contesting in 2018 due to her conviction. That year, Rafiqul Islam ran as the BNP candidate.

The Dinajpur-3 constituency covers Sadar Upazila. Of the 12 parliamentary elections held there, the BNP won three times — in 1979, 1996, and 2001. The first victory came under Rezwanul Haque Idu Chowdhury, followed by two wins by Khurshid Jahan Haque, Khaleda’s elder sister.