Last Updated on February 12, 2026 11:32 am by INDIAN AWAAZ
T N ASHOK
Five decades after its birth in blood and liberation — carved out of Pakistan in 1971 with decisive Indian military support and the courage of the Mukti Bahini — Bangladesh heads to the polls in one of the most consequential elections in its history.
The voting in the country’s 13th parliamentary elections simultaneously with a referendum on the interim government’s reform package started nationwide at 7:30am today with people queuing up in lines to cast their ballots.
Witnesses said a tight security vigil was enforced in polling centres in the capital and elsewhere in 299 of the 300 constituencies in the country as the Election Commission (EC) canceled voting in Sherpur-3 seat following the death of a candidate.
The vote comes in the turbulent aftermath of a student-led uprising that began as protests against public-sector job quotas but quickly snowballed into a nationwide revolt against entrenched power. The movement ultimately forced the resignation of long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose 15-year rule combined strong economic growth and infrastructure expansion with mounting allegations of political repression and shrinking democratic space.
Facing escalating unrest, Hasina fled to India, where she remains in exile — a development that has injected new strain into otherwise robust India-Bangladesh ties.
In the vacuum that followed, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was elevated to head an interim administration, promising institutional reform and electoral restoration. His ascent was welcomed in Western capitals, though critics at home question the durability of a technocratic experiment in a deeply polarized political landscape. Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, long constrained under Hasina’s rule, has re-emerged as a significant political force amid the reshuffle.
Now, as Bangladesh prepares to choose its next government, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — founded by former president Ziaur Rahman and led in exile for years by his son Tarique Rahman — appears poised for a dramatic comeback.
With the recent passing of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, sympathy and legacy politics have re-energized the party’s base. Tarique Rahman, operating from London but wielding growing influence at home, is widely viewed as a formidable challenger to the Yunus-backed reform platform.
This election is therefore more than a contest between personalities. It is a referendum on political legacy versus technocratic transition; on dynastic resilience versus generational revolt; and on how a strategically located South Asian nation will recalibrate its relations with India, China, the United States and the wider Islamic world.
Major international organisations that sent observers include the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the US-based International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
Other organisations include the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), and the European External Action Service.
Observers have arrived from 21 countries, including Pakistan (8), Bhutan (2), Sri Lanka (11), Nepal (1), Indonesia (3), the Philippines (2), Malaysia (6), Jordan (2), Turkey (13), Iran (3), Georgia (2), Russia (2), China (3), Japan (4), South Korea (2), Kyrgyzstan (2), Uzbekistan (2), South Africa (2), and Nigeria (4).
Fifty-one observers representing organisations such as Voice for Justice, Democracy International, SNAS Africa, the SAARC Human Rights Foundation, and the Polish Institute of International Affairs are monitoring the election in their individual capacities, according to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Election Commission.
Bangladesh was born in revolution. Half a century later, it is once again asking whether upheaval can be converted into stable democratic order.