Sat Dec 27 10:50:15 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a news article summarizing the text:

Headline: Tarique Rahman Registers to Vote in Bangladesh After 17 Years in Exile; Ruling Party Questions Legality

Dhaka/New Delhi – Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), completed voter registration and secured a national identity card (NID) on Saturday, December 27, 2025, just two days after returning to Bangladesh after 17 years of self-imposed exile in London. The 60-year-old leader visited the Election Commission (EC) office in Dhaka under heavy security to provide fingerprints and iris scans for biometric enrollment.

ASM Humayun Kabir, director general of the National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission, confirmed that Rahman had submitted his voter registration application online and was completing the registration process. He is expected to receive his NID card within 24 hours. Rahman’s daughter Zaima also completed her NID registration.

Bangladesh introduced voter lists with photographs and biometric data in 2008. Rahman, who was a political prisoner at the time, left for London after his release and was not included in the initial voter list, and didn’t return to register as a voter until now. While former Election Commission officials acknowledge Rahman’s right to register at any time, his registration comes just weeks before the February 12th elections where Rahman is expected to contest from Bogura Sadar (Bogura-6) constituency.

However, the Awami League, banned by the interim government from contesting the elections, has raised questions about the legality of Rahman’s registration, citing the fact that the final voter list has already been prepared and that his registration took place on a government holiday, insinuating possible violations of the law.

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