Ex-convicts and anti-India terror accused linked to Varanasi-Ajmer-Delhi blasts win big in Bangladesh polls

BNP and Jamaat leaders once facing death penalty secure parliamentary seats after court acquittals and political upheaval

• Three ex-death row leaders win seats in Bangladesh parliament
• BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders acquitted, now MPs
• India monitors Bangladesh's political shift after Hasina's exit

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Three Bangladeshi leaders once sentenced to death will soon take their seats in parliament after winning the country’s first national election since the fall of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Two belong to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Tarique Rahman, which secured victory in the polls. The third represents Jamaat-e-Islami, which lost nationally but saw its candidate win a seat. All three had faced capital punishment before being acquitted in recent court rulings following political upheaval in Dhaka.

The outcome signals a dramatic shift in Bangladesh’s power structure and carries implications for its ties with India.

In December 2024, a Bangladesh High Court acquitted Tarique Rahman, Lutfozzaman Babar and others in cases linked to the August 21, 2004 grenade attack targeting Sheikh Hasina. While Hasina survived, 24 people were killed.

Babar, once convicted in the case, won his parliamentary seat by a margin of 1.6 lakh votes.

Abdus Salam Pintu, another BNP leader, also saw charges cleared after previously facing conviction. He won his constituency by at least two lakh votes.

Pintu had been accused of backing Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji), a Pakistan-based militant group linked to attacks in India, including the 2006 Varanasi court blasts, the 2007 Ajmer Sharif Dargah attack and the 2011 Delhi blast. The cases had drawn scrutiny from New Delhi in the past.

ATM Azharul Islam, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami figure, had been sentenced to death in 2014 over allegations related to the 1971 Liberation War. Prosecutors had accused him of involvement in the deaths of more than 1,200 people and multiple rape cases during the conflict.

Following court decisions overturning earlier convictions, Islam has now secured a parliamentary seat.

He has been active in politics since the late 1990s and previously served as the party’s secretary general until 2012.

The election marks the first since Sheikh Hasina’s departure from power and subsequent move to India. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from the United States to lead an interim administration during the transition period, during which several convictions were revisited and overturned.

Indian officials have privately described the interim phase as disruptive for bilateral relations.

With Tarique Rahman poised to take oath and lead the next government, New Delhi is watching closely. Officials have indicated they are cautiously optimistic, citing expectations of a pragmatic approach shaped by economic pressures and regional stability concerns.