Four candidates from minority communities have been elected to Bangladeshโs parliament in the latest general election, all representing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is set to form the new government on Tuesday. Among the winners are two Hindu leaders, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Nitai Roy Chowdhury. Roy secured a seat in Dhaka, while Chowdhury won in the western district of Magura. Both defeated candidates from Jamaat-e-Islami. Roy is a member of the BNPโs highest policy-making standing committee. Chowdhury serves as one of the partyโs vice presidents and is regarded as a senior adviser and key strategist to the leadership.
The other two minority MPs-elect come from the countryโs southeastern hill districts. Saching Pru, a senior BNP leader from the Marma ethnic community and a practising Buddhist, won in Bandarban. In neighbouring Rangamati, Dipen Dewan claimed victory. Dewan belongs to the Chakma ethnic group, which is largely Buddhist, although there has been some uncertainty about his religious identity, with some describing him as Hindu.
Hindus account for around eight per cent of Bangladeshโs 170 million people, the majority of whom are Muslim.
In Rangamati, Dewan defeated an independent Chakma candidate. In Bandarban, Pru overcame a nominee from the National Citizen Party (NCP), a student-led political group formed last year by Students Against Discrimination. The student movement had led large-scale protests in August 2024 that resulted in the removal of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to the Election Commission, a total of 79 candidates from religious minority communities, including 10 women, contested Thursdayโs election. Of them, 67 were nominated by 22 political parties, while 12 stood as independents.
Party-wise minority community candidates
The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) fielded the highest number of minority candidates, with 17. It was followed by the Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal (BSD) and the Bangladesh Minority Janata Party (BMJP), which each nominated eight candidates. The Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BASOD) put forward seven. The BNP nominated six minority candidates, while the Jatiya Party named four.
Jamaat-e-Islami also nominated a Hindu candidate for the first time in its history. Veteran businessman Krishna Nandi contested the Khulna-1 seat but lost to a BNP rival, finishing second. His candidacy attracted significant public attention.
The BNP, led by Tarique Rahman, secured a landslide victory, winning 209 seats with 49.97 per cent of the vote. The results were announced on Friday. Jamaat-e-Islami achieved its strongest performance to date, gaining 68 seats with 31.76 per cent of the vote. The NCP emerged as the third-largest party, winning six seats and securing 3.05 per cent of the vote.