Tarique Rahman to Contest Dhaka-17 Alongside Bogura-6; Andaleeve Rahman Partha Shifts to Bhola

BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman is set to contest the upcoming election from Dhaka-17 in addition to Bogura-6. Meanwhile, Bangladesh National Party (BJP) Chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partha has decided to vacate Dhaka-17 and run instead from the Bhola-1 constituency.

Among Dhaka’s 20 parliamentary seats, BNP had kept three open for alliance considerations. Dhaka-17—covering elite areas such as Gulshan, Banani, and Baridhara—was one of them. It had been widely expected that Andaleeve Rahman Partha would contest this seat as a BNP alliance partner.

According to BNP sources, after returning to the country, Tarique Rahman applied on Saturday to become a registered voter in Dhaka-17. Senior BNP leaders later urged him to contest from this constituency. In response, Andaleeve Rahman chose to step aside from Dhaka-17 as a gesture of respect and decided to contest from Bhola-1 instead.

Party sources said BNP offered Andaleeve Rahman the option of joining the party and contesting the election with the BNP’s electoral symbol. However, he declined the proposal and opted to run under his own party’s banner from Bhola-1. He has already submitted his nomination papers for that seat.

Earlier, BNP had provisionally announced Golam Nabi Alamgir as its candidate for Bhola-1. Now, BNP is not expected to field any candidate against Andaleeve Rahman in that constituency.

Andaleeve Rahman Partha was elected as a Member of Parliament from Bhola-1 in 2008 with BNP’s backing. His father, the late Najibur Rahman Manzur, a former cabinet minister, had also represented the same constituency in parliament.