Ahead of Bangladesh’s thirteenth national parliamentary election, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party formally launched its campaign with a major rally at the historic Government Alia Madrasa field in Sylhet on Thursday morning, drawing large crowds from Sylhet city and surrounding districts and creating a festive political atmosphere across the area. The rally carried added significance due to the long-awaited visit of BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman, who is set to announce the official commencement of the party’s nationwide campaign strategy and introduce party-nominated candidates from Sylhet and Sunamganj constituencies. Hours before the scheduled start, party activists began arriving in groups from Sylhet, Sunamganj, and nearby districts, filling the rally grounds and adjacent streets with party flags, posters, banners, and cutouts featuring party symbols and the paddy-sheaf emblem. Senior BNP officials indicated that although the rally was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., Tarique Rahman was expected to take the stage at around 11:30 a.m., where he would address supporters and guide local party structures on organizational strategy, outreach plans, and message discipline for the upcoming election. The party leadership described the rally as the culmination of months of preparation and the starting point of a wider sequence of road rallies, processions, and political gatherings across multiple districts, eventually converging into the central campaign phase in Dhaka. In addition to candidate introductions, Tarique Rahman’s speech is expected to articulate the party’s broader message for voters, outline its political agenda, and energize grassroots activists ahead of constituency-level engagement. Rahman arrived in Sylhet by air on Wednesday night and visited the shrines of Shahjalal and Shah Paran before holding meetings with local BNP leaders; his first rally in Sylhet in nearly two decades renewed enthusiasm and curiosity among both senior activists and newly mobilized youth supporters, many of whom flocked to the venue with slogans, party paraphernalia, and live social media broadcasts. The rally also triggered heightened security preparations, with police, RAB, and other law enforcement units deploying layered checkpoints, barricades, and metal detection gates at the entry points of the venue and surrounding intersections. Local businesses, hotels, restaurants, and transport services experienced increased demand as attendees arrived from multiple districts in advance, some estimating that the political activities would continue throughout the day and extend into the evening. BNP sources noted that after completing the Sylhet rally, Tarique Rahman is expected to travel by road toward Dhaka, stopping in Moulvibazar, Habiganj, and additional districts for short roadside political gatherings, signaling a more aggressive field-based campaign strategy aimed at mobilizing voters. The rally revived memories of earlier election seasons when major political parties frequently initiated campaigns from district towns as a symbolic gesture of national outreach. Political observers argued that a visibly active campaign would likely intensify political engagement across constituencies, draw candidates closer to voters, and help shape electoral expectations as polling day approaches. Supporters at the event expressed hopes that the campaign launch would energize BNP ranks across the country and frame the election as a competitive political contest, while others speculated that increased campaign activities by major parties could reduce voter apathy and stimulate turnout debates. With the election nearing, Sylhet’s rally is being viewed as a crucial moment in BNP’s broader electoral chessboard, marking a transition from organizational preparation to direct voter outreach, and setting the tone for the coming weeks of political maneuvering, constituency messaging, and strategic positioning across Bangladesh.