Published : 13 Aug 2026, 07:06 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:32 AM
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has stepped down as BNP secretary general and member of the BNP National Standing Committee after being nominated by the ruling party as its candidate for Bangladesh's presidency.
He announced his decision at a high-level BNP meeting at the Secretariat on Thursday.
BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman chaired the meeting with members of the party's Standing Committee and senior leaders before announcing Fakhrul's name as the party's presidential candidate.
Fakhrul resigned from his current party positions immediately afterwards.
The BNP Standing Committee had assigned Tarique the responsibility of selecting the party's presidential candidate at a meeting on Aug 1.
Several Standing Committee members told bdnews24.com that Tarique had spoken to members of the party’s highest policymaking body by phone over the past few days to seek their views before calling Thursday's meeting to formally announce the choice.
Fakhrul's nomination papers will be submitted to the Election Commission after the meeting, with Thursday being the deadline for nominations under the election schedule.
After the restoration of parliamentary democracy, the 1991 presidential election was contested by multiple candidates and required a vote. Since then, presidents have been elected unopposed with candidates backed by the ruling party winning each time.
This year's election will be the second contested presidential election in 35 years after the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance announced that it would field a candidate.
The 11-party opposition alliance is nominating Liberal Democratic Party President Oli Ahmad.
The presidential election is scheduled to take place in the Jatiya Sangsad chamber on Aug 20 from 2pm to 5pm.
With the ruling BNP holding two-thirds of the seats in parliament, Fakhrul is widely expected to secure the presidency, leaving the vote largely a formality.
During the meeting, the party's Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said in a briefing: "On behalf of the BNP, I am happy to announce that BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been nominated as the presidential candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party."
“This decision was made some time ago under the chairmanship of the party's esteemed chairman and honourable Prime Minister Mr Tarique Rahman. He resigned from the post of BNP secretary general and National Standing Committee member as soon as he became a candidate."
Asked who will take over as secretary general, Rizvi said: "The responsibility is up to our chairman and prime minister have given him the responsibility; he will give his opinion on the process and the way it should be carried out. We will inform you at a later time. For now, we will only announce that we have nominated Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the party's presidential candidate."
