Tarique Rahman: Meet Sheikh Hasina's arch rival's son who is set to govern Bangladesh after BNP's huge victory

Bangladesh’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has swept the country’s first parliamentary election since the 2024 uprising, securing a commanding majority that positions its acting chairman Tarique Rahman at the centre of power in Dhaka.

Local television tallies showed the BNP-led coalition winning 209 of the 300 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad, a decisive mandate in a vote widely viewed as crucial to restoring stability after months of unrest.

The election marked a historic break from the long dominance of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League was barred from contesting after her ouster during the Gen-Z-driven protests of 2024. Turnout appeared set to exceed the previous national vote, with more than 2,000 candidates and dozens of parties contesting seats in what observers described as Bangladesh’s most competitive election in years.


For the BNP, the result does more than secure parliamentary control--it shows the political ascent of Tarique Rahman, long seen as heir to a dynasty that has shaped Bangladesh’s power struggles for three decades.

Also read: Bangladesh's BNP wins big in historic parliamentary election

Who is Tarique Rahman?

Rahman, now a 60-year-old, is the elder son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a role he exercised for years from self-exile in London after leaving Bangladesh in 2008 for medical treatment amid mounting legal and political pressure.

Multiple convictions--including corruption cases and charges tied to an alleged assassination plot against former premier Sheikh Hasina--had long barred his return and kept him physically distant from the country’s turbulent politics even as he remained central to BNP strategy.

Over the past year, however, Bangladesh’s higher judiciary overturned or dismissed the most consequential cases against him, including those linked to the 2004 grenade attack and graft allegations.

The rulings dismantled the legal architecture that had confined him abroad for more than 17 years and cleared the path for a dramatic political homecoming. His return just weeks before the national election injected fresh energy into BNP ranks, transforming what had been an opposition campaign into a leadership restoration narrative centred on dynastic continuity and political revival.

Rahman’s influence extends beyond symbolism. During his years in exile, he functioned as the party’s de facto decision-maker, shaping alliances, messaging and organisational strategy from afar, while his mother’s ill health gradually shifted authority toward him.

When he finally stepped back onto Bangladeshi soil, supporters framed the moment as the culmination of a long political interregnum, casting him not merely as Khaleda Zia’s heir but as the figure meant to redefine BNP rule in a post-Hasina era.

As reported by ET in December, party loyalists increasingly viewed him as the undisputed leader and a prime-minister-in-waiting should the BNP secure a governing majority.

Also read: Tarique Rahman finally steps into the spotlight, set to be Bangladesh PM

Khaleda Zia’s exiled son to take her throne

Bangladesh’s modern politics has long revolved around the rivalry between Khaleda Zia and Hasina. With Zia elderly and in fragile health, the BNP has increasingly looked to Rahman to inherit both leadership and legacy.

The party’s sweeping victory now places him at the threshold of national leadership. Campaign promises centred on economic revival, anti-corruption drives, limits on prime-ministerial tenure and financial support for poorer households—an agenda aimed at signalling both reform and continuity after years of political turbulence.

Rival Jamaat-e-Islami, which led the main opposition alliance in the vote, conceded defeat and pledged “positive politics,” underscoring the scale of the BNP’s mandate. A youth-driven party born from the anti-Hasina protests secured only a handful of seats, highlighting how decisively the electorate consolidated around the BNP.

Also read: Rise of a new power player in South Asia: Profound changes on cards for India, China

Sheikh Hasina refuses to concede defeat

Hasina, currently in self-imposed exile in India, rejected the election outcome, calling the process a “carefully planned farce” conducted without genuine participation from her party’s supporters. She demanded the cancellation of what she described as an illegal and unconstitutional vote and called for fresh elections under a neutral caretaker administration.

Her absence has also reshaped regional geopolitics. Strained ties with India and the possibility of expanding influence by China form part of the broader strategic backdrop against which Bangladesh’s leadership transition is unfolding.

Yet on the streets of Dhaka and across the country, the BNP’s victory is being read less as a geopolitical pivot and more as the closing chapter of the Hasina era—and the opening act of Tarique Rahman’s long-awaited rise to power.