13th National Parliament Elections: Lalmonirhat District

Lalmonirhat district is an administrative region of the Rangpur Division in north-western Bangladesh. The district has a total of three parliamentary constituencies. Following the publication of the final list of candidates by the Election Commission for the upcoming 13th National Parliament elections, election campaigning has been in full swing in the district since Thursday (January 22).

Lalmonirhat-1 (Parliamentary Constituency No. 16): Lalmonirhat-1 constituency comprises Patgram Upazila and Hatibandha Upazila of Lalmonirhat district. The total number of voters in this constituency is 376,122. Of them, 188,664 are male voters, 187,457 are female voters, and one is a transgender voter.

Candidates: A total of four candidates are contesting in this constituency in the upcoming election. Habib Md Faruk is contesting from the Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD) with the motor car symbol, while Shihab Ahmed is contesting as an independent candidate. In addition, Muhammad Fazlul Karim Shaharia from Islami Andolan Bangladesh and Md Shubho Ahmed from the Bangladesh Labour Party are also in the race.

Elected MPs: In the 1986 and 1991 elections, Zainal Abedin Sarkar of the Jatiya Party was elected, while in 1996 Hasanuzzaman Hasan of the BNP won the seat. Later in the same year, Jatiya Party candidate Zainal Abedin Sarkar was again elected. Subsequently, from 2001 to 2024, Motaher Hossain of the Bangladesh Awami League served as the Member of Parliament from this constituency.

Lalmonirhat-2 (Parliamentary Constituency No. 17) : Lalmonirhat-2 constituency consists of Aditmari Upazila and Kaliganj Upazila of Lalmonirhat district. The total number of voters in this constituency is 402,034, including 201,707 male voters and 200,327 female voters.

Candidates: Four candidates are contesting in this constituency in the upcoming election. They are: Md Mahfuzur Rahman from Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Nimai Chandra Roy from the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Md Elhan Uddin from the Jatiya Party, and Md Momtaz Ali as an independent candidate.

Elected MPs: In the 1986 and 1991 parliamentary elections, Jatiya Party candidate Mojibur Rahman won the seat. In the February 1996 election, Saleh Uddin Ahmed of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was elected, but in the subsequent election later that year, Jatiya Party candidate Mojibur Rahman regained the seat. In the 2001 election, Mojibur Rahman won as a candidate of the Islami Jatiya Oikya Front. He was again elected as an MP in the 2008 election after contesting from the Jatiya Party (Ershad). Later, amid changing political circumstances, Bangladesh Awami League candidate Nuruzzaman Ahmed won consecutively in the 2014, 2018 and 2024 parliamentary elections.

Lalmonirhat-3 (Parliamentary Constituency No. 18): Lalmonirhat-3 constituency comprises Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila of Lalmonirhat district. The total number of voters in this constituency is 285,574. Of them, 143,212 are male voters, 142,361 are female voters, and one is a transgender voter.

Candidates: In the upcoming election, Md Zahid Hasan from the Jatiya Party, Madhu Sudan Roy from the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Dipak Kumar Roy from the Ganosamhati Andolan, and Md Aminul Islam from Islami Andolan Bangladesh are contesting in this constituency.

Elected MPs: In the 1986 parliamentary election, Awami League candidate Abul Hossain won the seat. In the following election in 1988, Jatiya Party candidate Riyaz Uddin Ahmed was elected, and the party again won the seat in 1991. In the 1996 election, Asadul Habib Dulu of the BNP was elected, but in the subsequent election held in June the same year, Jatiya Party candidate G.M. Quader won the seat. In the 2001 election, BNP candidate Asadul Habib Dulu again emerged victorious. Later, in the 2008 election, G.M. Quader of the Jatiya Party was elected as MP. In the 2014 election, Awami League candidate Abu Saleh Mohammad Sayeed won the seat. Although G.M. Quader of the Jatiya Party regained the seat in the 2018 election, Awami League candidate Md Matiar Rahman won the constituency in the 2024 parliamentary election.