New Delhi: Even as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) swept the elections on Friday, thereby returning to power after two decades, there was one piece of news from across our eastern border which aroused interest in India.
The BJP won a seat in the 300-member Jatiya Sangsad, Bangladesh’s national parliament.
Yes, BJP — you heard that right.
But there’s a twist. This is not the BJP we are familiar with. The BJP which managed to open its account in the recent election is the Bangladesh Jatiya Party, and not Bharatiya Janata Party.
Bangladesh’s BJP, which has the same acronym as India’s ruling party, is an ally of Tarique Rahman’s BNP.
While BNP alone bagged 209 seats, BJP and other allies managed to win 4 seats, taking the tally to 212.
BJP’s lone seat came from the Bhola-1 (Sadar) constituency in Barisal division. The party’s chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partho, a lawyer, won the seat for a second time, defeating the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Nazrul Islam by nearly 30,000 votes.
Born on April 20, 1974, Partho rose to prominence in Bangladesh politics in 2008 after winning the Bhola-1 seat for the first time. At that time, he was Bangladesh’s youngest Opposition leader and MP.
Partho’s father Naziur Rahaman Manzur was a freedom fighter who played a prominent role during the 1971 Liberation War. Manzur later served as a minister and was also the mayor of Dhaka.
Manzur founded the Bangladesh Jatiya Party in 2001 after splitting from the Jatiya Party.
Partho, who went to the UK for his LLB course, took over as Bangladesh BJP chairperson after his father passed away in 2008.
In the run-up to the 2026 election, Partho promised to transform the constituency into a ‘Tilottama’ — a beautiful, modern city. He also promised a Bhola to Barishal bridge, a medical college, and the provision of household gas connections.
