Ahead of crucial polls, BNP's Tarique Rehman set to return to Bangladesh on Dec 25 | Top points

It is widely expected that Tarique Rahman will emerge as a winner in the parliamentary elections, scheduled for February 12.

The stage is set for Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Tarique Rahman's return to the country after nearly 17 years in exile on Thursday.

Tarique Rahman, who was a powerful figure within BNP, saw a turbulent period after spending 18 months in jail in Bangladesh. (AFP)

A total of 50 lakh BNP supporters are set to gather to welcome Rahman, whose return comes ahead of the crucial general polls in February next year. Rehman's return to the homeland also comes amid widespread outrage after the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi.

60-year-old Tarique Rahman, the son of ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is seen as the front runner to become Bangladesh's next prime minister.

His return comes at a time when Bangladesh is in the middle of a political vacuum, a year after Prime Minister ⁠Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India after student-led protests last year.

Here are the top points in the story:

• Tarique Rahman's is currently the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a party that has seen an ascent following ⁠Sheikh Hasina's ouster.
• Rahman’s decision to return to the country is driven by both political developments and personal circumstances. Khaleda Zia, 80, has been seriously ill for months, which had prompted Rahman's urgent trip back home, the party insiders have said.
• It is widely expected that Rahman will emerge as a winner in the parliamentary elections, scheduled for February 12. The country is currently under an interim government, of which Mohammad Yunus is the chief advisor.
• The February elections will the first since the students-led protest ended Hasina's 15-year rule in the country.
• A survey conducted by US-based ⁠International Republican Institute this month suggested that the BNP is on course to win the largest number of parliamentary seats, Reuters reported. Jamaat-e-Islami party, a hardliner in the country's politics, is also among the front runners.

• Rahman has been living in London since 2008 as he faced multiple criminal convictions, including for money laundering and in a case related to a ​plot to ⁠assassinate Hasina. He was acquitted of all charges after Hasina’s removal.
• Bangladesh is currently on the crossroads, with Rahman's return testing the BNP's ability to mobilise peacefully and the interim administration's promise to deliver a credible transfer of power. The National Citizen Party (NCP), which emerged from the youth's protest, said it views Rahman's return positively.

Tarique Rahman: BNP's successor and nation's "youngest prisoners of war"

Rahman was born in 1967 in the erstwhile east Pakistan to former prime minister Khaleda Zia and Ziaur Rahman, an army commander.

He was briefly detained as a child during the 1971 liberation war and was hailed as "one of the youngest prisoners of war" by the party. He briefly studied international relations at Dhaka University before entering politics at the age of 23.

Tarique's father Ziaur Rahman gained influence after the 1975 coup in which Hasina's father and country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was murdered. Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in 1981 when his son was 15.

Later, Khaleda Zia went on to become the country's first female prime minister, alternating her terms in power with Hasina.