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Bangladesh Elections: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party is currently leading a major 11-party electoral alliance, positioning itself as a primary contender alongside the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the upcoming parliamentary election of Bangladesh, which is scheduled to take place on February 12. The party, which has made a significant comeback into Bangladesh’s political landscape after years of ban, has said it is “optimistic and hopeful” of amicable ties with India, if it comes to power in the country.

For Jamaat-e-Islami, the upcoming elections mark a significant return to the political mainstream following years of legal bans and the ouster of the Awami League government in August 2024. The party is campaigning with the ‘Daripalla’ (Balance Scale) symbol, which was recently restored for their use by the Election Commission.

“The July 2024 revolution has proved that the people of Bangladesh have never believed in Sheikh Hasina and her family’s narrative. We, as a party, stand out compared to others because we believe in strong democratic values, and we have amalgamated those values into Islamic ideals. The people of Bangladesh have seen this. They understand what we stand for. They have seen that despite all the attacks and restrictions on us, how we have sustained and survived under Hasina’s 15 years of misrule,” Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, Assistant Secretary General and Chief of Central Publicity and Media Department, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, told ABP Live.

“We were beside our people, we never kneeled in front of the autocratic powers, we were never involved in any corruption, any scam. We had ministers in the cabinet from 2001 till 2006. We had two cabinet-level ministers in the ruling party, and they were never involved in any scam or corrupt activities,” he said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami became a powerful political force by aligning with major parties for nearly two decades. In the 1991 elections, it won 18 seats and supported the BNP to form the government. It formally joined the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in 1999 and held two cabinet positions (Agriculture and Social Welfare) from 2001 to 2006.

After Sheikh Hasina came to power in 2010, the Awami League government prosecuted top Jamaat leaders for 1971 war crimes. Several senior leaders, including Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, were convicted and executed. Eventually, in 2013, the High Court cancelled Jamaat's registration as a political party, ruling its charter conflicted with the secular national constitution.

“People of this country are witnesses to all these, and yet they have put their faith and trust in us. The people of Bangladesh know that Jamaat-e-Islami is that one party that has never brought any harm to this country. And that is why people are now ready to put their trust in us through the ballot. We will all get their answer on 12 February,” said Zubair, sitting in his office in Mogbazar, Dhaka, which is the Central Office of Jamaat-e-Islami.

The Awami League government briefly imposed a total ban on the party in August 2024. This was reversed by the interim government following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. Thereafter, in June 2025, the Supreme Court officially lifted the ban and restored the party's registration, allowing it to contest the upcoming 2026 national elections.

On the issue of resetting ties with India, he said, once an elected government comes to power, India will strive to have a working relationship with Bangladesh. Zubair was also hopeful that India might also resolve the issues concerning Hasina’s extradition once a government, which will be chosen by the people of Bangladesh, comes to power.

“Sheikh Hasina has faced a free and fair trial, and we believe in that trial. It was Hasina who had got the extradition treaty signed with India. We hope India will respect the judiciary, the justice system of this country, as well as the treaty and therefore New Delhi will cooperate accordingly. We will soon have a government in place that will be elected by the citizens of this country. We hope India will respect the will of the Bangladeshi people,” Zubair told ABP Live.

He added, “If we get the mandate of the people to run this country, then we will address all the pending issues with India. The first and foremost outstanding issue that we want to engage India in is the Teesta River water sharing and the sharing of water of other transboundary rivers.”

The Jamaat leader also said that in the absence of a proper river-water sharing pact, Bangladesh is suffering economically, especially in its agricultural sector.

“Another issue on which we would like to engage India is border killing. This is an important issue. Both sides have been discussing this issue for a long time, but nothing is coming out of it,” Zubair said, adding that both sides will come to a concrete solution to this.

He also expressed discontent that Hasina, who is currently living in India, and other Awami League leaders are being allowed to incite violence and mobilise people to create disturbances inside Bangladesh.

“We think India will put a break on such activities of hers when an elected government comes to power in Dhaka. No party can be bigger than the country, no individual can be bigger than the party, so our relationship with India will be on a government-to-government basis and between its peoples. So we are optimistic and hopeful that India will understand our position and work towards resolving the outstanding issues,” he added. 

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the country's largest Islamist party, known for its rigorous cadre-based structure and its controversial history regarding the 1971 Liberation War. The party firmly opposed Bangladesh's secession from Pakistan, viewing it as a threat to Islamic unity.

India views Jamaat as a proxy of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). A Jamaat-influenced government might pivot away from India toward closer military and diplomatic ties with Islamabad.

Jamaat and its 11-party alliance has finalised candidates for 253 constituencies. It is contesting 179 seats directly. The National Citizen Party (NCP), headed by Nahid Islam – the face of the July 2024 uprising – is also part of Jamaat and has been allocated 30 seats. Remaining seats are distributed among groups such as Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish (20 seats), Khelafat Majlish (10 seats), and the AB Party.