Watch: Tarique Rahman’s daughter campaigns by rickshaw in Bangladesh’s Dhaka ahead of Feb 12 polls

Zaima Rahman, daughter of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Tarique Rahman, took to the streets of the capital on a rickshaw to campaign for her father in the high-profile Dhaka-17 constituency ahead of the February 12 general elections.Videos circulating online show the London-trained barrister riding through busy neighbourhoods with Fatema Khatun, caregiver to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, as she handed out pamphlets and appealed directly to voters.Beginning her outreach at Gulshan Police Plaza, Zaima moved through streets, shops, cafes and office buildings, distributing leaflets bearing the BNP’s election symbol, the “Sheaf of Paddy.”

She was seen speaking with pedestrians, rickshaw pullers, vendors and office staff.“My father, Tarique Rahman, is the ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ candidate in Dhaka-17. I am asking for your votes in his favour,” she told residents during the campaign trail.

Rahman, 60, is considered a front-runner in what will be Bangladesh’s first general election since the ouster of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024. He faces a key challenge in Dhaka-17 from Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Dr SM Khalekuzzaman.

The BNP supremo recently rejected a proposal from Jamaat-e-Islami for a unity government, asserting confidence in his party’s prospects. “How can I form a government with my political opponents, and then who would be in the opposition?” he said in an interview, expressing hope that rivals would play the role of a “good opposition” if elected.Rahman returned to Bangladesh in December after nearly two decades in exile, following the deteriorating health of his mother, Khaleda Zia, who passed away on December 30, 2025.

Zia was the country’s first woman prime minister.

Bangladesh elections 2026

General elections will be held on February 12, 2026, to elect 300 members to the Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament). The vote will also be accompanied by a constitutional referendum on the July Charter.More than 127 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots, making it one of the largest democratic exercises of the year. As many as 1,981 candidates are contesting the polls.The election is being conducted under an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, which has been in place since Sheikh Hasina’s removal following a student-led uprising in 2024.Hasina, now in exile in India, was later convicted by a Bangladesh tribunal for allowing the use of lethal force against protesters during the unrest, which left around 1,400 people — many of them students and teenagers — dead. She has been sentenced to death in absentia.The Awami League, which won the previous four elections under Hasina, has been suspended and is not participating in the upcoming vote. This has turned the contest largely into a bipolar fight between the BNP and the 11-Party Alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP).The BNP has nominated 288 candidates and is seeking additional seats through allies and independents. The 11-Party Alliance is contesting 298 seats, while Islami Andolan Bangladesh has fielded candidates in 253 constituencies.

The National Democratic Front (NDF), led by the Jatiya Party (Ershad), is contesting 206 seats. Leftist parties under the Democratic United Front are in 149 seats, and the Greater Sunni Alliance is contesting 64 constituencies.Key campaign issues include unemployment, corruption, extortion, proportional representation and outreach to youth and minority voters. Postal voting will be used for the first time, and the “No Vote” option has also been reintroduced.With opinion polls indicating an edge for the BNP but a strong showing expected from Jamaat-e-Islami, the February 12 election is set to reshape Bangladesh’s political landscape.