Farzana Sharmin Putul has been elected as the only female lawmaker from the 72 parliamentary constituencies across 16 districts in the northern divisions of Rajshahi and Rangpur.
In the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections, she won from the Natore 1, Lalpur-Bagatipara, constituency as a candidate of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
At 41 years of age, this lawyer is also the youngest female lawmaker in the country. Barrister Putul is daughter of late BNP leader and former state minister Fazlur Rahman Patal.
After 18 years, she regained her father’s constituency by securing party nomination and winning the election.
Fazlur Rahman Patal had served as an adviser to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and was elected MP from this constituency four several times including, 1991, 1996 and 2001.
In the 2008 election, the seat slipped from BNP’s control after Patal was defeated by Jatiya Party candidate MA Talha.
Fazlur Rahman Patal passed away in 2015.
In the 2018 election, his wife received the party nomination but lost to Awami League candidate Shahidul Islam Bakul.
As BNP did not participate in the 2024 election, no member of the Patal family contested that year. After a long 18 years, his daughter Barrister
Putul has now reclaimed the seat.
By profession, Barrister Farzana Sharmin Putul is a Supreme Court lawyer. She currently serves as special assistant to the BNP chairperson’s foreign affairs advisory committee, a member of the Human Rights Committee, and a member of the party’s Media Cell.
According to the election results, she secured 1,02,726 votes while her nearest rival, Jamaat-nominated candidate Abul Kalam Azad, received 90,568 votes and independent candidate Taiful Islam Tipu came third with 73,173 votes.
During the election campaign, Barrister Putul was reportedly subjected to cyber bullying.
Overcoming these adversities, she ultimately succeeded in crossing the electoral hurdle.
After her victory, Barrister Farzana Sharmin Putul said that BNP honoured the people of this constituency by nominating me and, the people of this constituency, in return, have honoured the party to elect me as lawmaker.
‘I will not judge anyone based on who voted or who did not vote for me. I want to work with everyone,’ she said and added, ‘Not only for this constituency or Natore district, but if given the opportunity, I’m ready to work for the country.’
