Dhaka-14 contest intensifies as Tuli, Arman, and Saju take centre stage

The Dhaka‑14 contest is turning into one of the most-watched races in the capital, with candidates and party workers moving door to door across Mirpur, Shah Ali, and Darus Salam. Among the 12 contenders, BNP nominee Sanjida Islam, known as Tuli, Jamaat‑e‑Islami candidate Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, known as Arman, and independent candidate Syed Abu Bakar Siddiq, known as Saju, are ahead in publicity and campaign activity.

Dhaka‑14 is Seat No. 187 in the 13th national election. The constituency includes Mirpur in DNCC Wards 7 to 11 and one union of Savar upazila. Total voters are 456,044, including 232,066 men, 223,974 women, and four third‑gender voters.

Other candidates in the race are Nurul Amin of JSD, Md Abu Yusuf of Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Md Osman Ali of BSP, Md Jasim Uddin of Gono Forum, Md Liton of BRP, Md Sohel Rana of LDP, Md Helal Uddin of Jatiya Party, Mohammad Moniruzzaman of AB Party, and Riaz Uddin of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

Tuli is the coordinator of Mothers’ Call, a group formed by families of enforced disappearance victims. She is the sister of Sajedul Islam Sumon, a prominent BNP leader from Shahinbagh, Dhaka, who went missing in December 2013 and is widely reported as a victim of enforced disappearance, allegedly picked up by the RAB.

Arman, a barrister and son of executed politician Mir Quasem Ali, was forcibly disappeared on 9 August 2016 from his home in Dhaka, allegedly by security forces. He was held in incommunicado detention for years, with reports in 2025 describing his time in secret detention.

Saju is the son of S A Khalek, a BNP executive committee member and former deputy mayor of undivided Dhaka. Khalek first became an MP from the then Dhaka‑14 constituency in the second national election on 18 February 1979. He later won from Dhaka‑11 on Jatiya Party nomination in the 1986 and 1988 elections, returned to BNP before the February 1996 election, and was last elected as a BNP MP from Dhaka‑11 in the 2001 election.

In a separate party development, BNP expelled S A Siddiq, Saju, from the party on 14 January 2026. The notice signed by BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said he was removed from primary membership and all positions for disobeying party decisions and engaging in organizationally harmful activities. The notice did not specify the exact acts. Sources said S A Siddiq met Tarique Rahman at the Gulshan office upon his arrival in Bangladesh and committed not to contest against BNP nominee Sanjida Islam, Tuli, but later did not stand down, which led to his expulsion.