DHAKA: Tarique Rahman-led BNP was cruising to the halfway mark of 150 - winning 120 of the 300 parliamentary seats and leading in 55 more - leaving behind its rival and Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, on Thursday, as counting was under way after Bangladeshis voted in the first national election since the 2024 'July Uprising' ousted long-time PM Sheikh Hasina. The turnout, however, was just 47%.
By midnight, it had taken an unassailable lead over the hardline anti-India Jamaat and its allies - trailing with 38 seats - in the contest to elect a new govt to replace the Muhammad Yunus-led interim govt. Yunus took charge after the collapse of the Hasina-led Awami League dispensation - a party banned from contesting the poll and its symbol, the boat, missing from ballot papers for the first time in 30 years.
