Political Party At partition in 1947 there was practically one overwhelming party in East Pakistan, the muslim league. In the elections of 1996 in Bangladesh, eighty one political parties participated. In spite of the rise of so many political parties over time, the public is essentially grouped under two major political parties, awami league andbangladesh nationalist party, the next major parties being jatiya party andjamaat-e-islami bangladesh. With the exception of few among the remaining, all other parties remained unrepresented in the jatiya sangsad.
Political parties since 1885 The foundation of the All India National Congress as a formal political party was not immediately followed by other similar organisations. This was the time when separatist Muslim politics was gradually gaining ground. Instead of joining the Congress or forming separate political parties, the Muslim leaders continued to follow old style politics of associations. abdool luteef'smohammedan literary society and syed ameer ali's central national muhamedan association followed this pattern. Loyalty to the raj was the trend of Muslim leadership. All India Muslim League was formed in 1906 under the dictates of the post-partition (1905) politics. Nawab khwaja salimullah of Dhaka took the initiative in forming the Muslim League.
In addition to National Congress and Muslim League, some revolutionary groups began to operate from the beginning of the 20th century. Most important of them were anushilan samiti and the jugantar party. The central samiti of the Anushilan group appears to have started at Dhaka in 1906. Three other separate samitis were also set up with headquarters in Barisal, Faridpur and Mymensingh. Until 1908 the Central Anushilan Samiti operated openly as a cultural organisation with secret branches in many parts of Eastern Bengal, and had its membership restricted to Hindus. The Jugantar group was also founded in 1906 in Calcutta, which also espoused violence to end British...