Who is Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, the Hindu candidate running for Sheikh Hasina’s seat?
As Bangladesh prepares for national elections scheduled on February 12, 2026, a new and politically significant contender has emerged from the constituency once represented by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, a Hindu leader and legal professional, is set to contest the Gopalganj-3 (Kotalipara–Tungipara) seat as an independent candidate amid rising concerns over violence against minorities.
Pramanik currently serves as the general secretary of the central committee of the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote, a platform advocating minority rights.
According to The Daily Star, citing Hindu Mohajote’s Gopalganj district president Bijan Roy, Pramanik is scheduled to file his nomination papers on December 28.
Positioning himself as a non-partisan voice, Pramanik has described himself as a “neutral person” with no formal affiliation to any political party.
He has argued that party-backed lawmakers often remain constrained by political discipline and fail to raise grassroots concerns. “I want to overcome that limitation and speak on behalf of the people,” he told the Bangladeshi daily.
The Gopalganj-3 seat, considered a stronghold of Sheikh Hasina, is witnessing a crowded and ideologically diverse contest. Among Pramanik’s opponents are BNP-nominated SM Jilani, National Citizen Party’s Ariful Daria, Jamaat-e-Islami’s MM Rezaul Karim, Gono Odhikar Parishad’s Abul Bashar, Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s Maruf Sheikh, National People’s Party’s Sheikh Salauddin, and Khelafat Majlis’s Oli Ahmed. Independent candidates Md Habibur Rahman and Mohammad Anwar Hossain are also in the fray.
Pramanik’s candidature comes at a time when minority communities including Hindus, Christians, Sufis, and Ahmadiyya Muslims—have reported a surge in targeted violence following the ouster of Hasina in August 2024.
Minority leaders have accused radical groups of exploiting political instability and growing anti-India sentiment to justify attacks under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
Recent protests intensified after the lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, a young Hindu man in Mymensingh, prompting human chains and demonstrations in Dhaka. Minority organisations have alleged inadequate investigations and a lack of justice, fuelling fear and mistrust.
With the Awami League banned from contesting elections under a revised anti-terrorism law and concerns mounting over sporadic violence and media attacks, Pramanik’s bid from Hasina’s former seat has become a symbolically charged test of minority participation and political pluralism in Bangladesh’s unfolding electoral moment.