Undefeated, unmatched

Twenty-three contests. Twenty-three victories. No losses.

In the history of Bangladesh's parliament, no politician has matched Khaleda Zia's electoral record. Across five general elections from 1991 to 2008, she never tasted defeat. Bogura, Feni, Lakshmipur, Chattogram, Dhaka, Khulna—the geography changed, but the outcome didn't. Her name on a ballot worked like a charm.

That is perhaps why, the BNP nominated her for three constituencies even as she fought for her life in a Dhaka hospital. The nomination for the 13th national election looked like confidence in her recovery. In reality, it was something more profound: an acknowledgment that no one else in the party could match her popularity.

Even on life support, Khaleda Zia remained BNP's most credible candidate.

Her political rise coincided with Bangladesh's democratic awakening. After the restoration of parliamentary rule in 1991, she and Sheikh Hasina became the two poles of national politics—rivals whose fifteen-year duel shaped everything from policy to identity. They traded power. They traded accusations.

For a decade and a half, Bangladesh belonged to these two women.

Khaleda contested from five seats in 1991. She won them all. She swept another five in first election of 1996, which was marred by controversy since it was boycotted by the opposition. But even as BNP's popularity plummeted and Khaleda had to give in to the demand of the opposition by agreeing to a caretaker government, she still swept five seats in June 1996. The pattern held through 2001, when she returned to power with another five-seat haul.

Even in 2008, when the BNP suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat as it was reduced to just 30 seats, Khaleda Zia won all three of her races. The party collapsed around her. She remained standing.

That invincibility ended in 2018. But it was not by the ballot. It was in a courtroom. A corruption conviction disqualified her from contesting. For the first time since 1991, the BNP went to the polls without Khaleda Zia's name on the ticket. The party had prepared to nominate her for Feni-1, Bogura-6, and Bogura-7. Instead, she sat in prison while her candidates lost ground across the country.

Six years later, she was nominated again. But this time, the context was different. The woman who had never lost an election was losing a battle no political strategy could win. Inside Evercare Hospital, machines regulated her breathing. Outside, party workers held vigils, clutching posters of a leader who might never address another rally.