As the polls were announced, backdoor channels opened up with the BNP and the Jamaat. The two parties’ old alliance broke down, and circumstances forced the BNP to move to the centre-left and take Yunus and the extremists head-on. The Yunus regime helped in this transformation, and the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) joined Jamaat’s 11-party alliance. Seventy per cent of voters endorsed this charter in the constitutional referendum, even as most rejected Yunus, the NCP and the Jamaat. Jamaat-e-Islami’s hopes of seizing power were dashed as it could secure only 68 seats, with the NCP managing just six.

Source: Indian Express February 18, 2026 08:10 UTC