Early life
Shama Obaed Islam was born into a prominent political family in Bangladesh. Her father, KM Obaidur Rahman, was a veteran politician and an organizer of Bangladesh's liberation movement. He served as the 4th Secretary General of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and held various ministerial positions. Her mother, Shaheda Obaed, was an educator and the former chairperson of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka.
Islam was barred from seeing her ailing father in January 1999 before returning to the United States, where she was living at that time due to her job.
Political career
Shama Obaed returned to Bangladesh after her father's death and joined her father's party, BNP. She unsuccessfully contested from Faridpur-2, a constituency from which her father was elected several times, comprising Nagarkanda and Saltha Upazilas, in 2008.
In 2010, she became the President of Jatiyotabadi Muktijuddher Projonmo, an organisation representing the descendants of freedom fighters who advocate the cause of Bangladeshi Nationalism. During the Sheikh Hasina regime, she participated in several political protests.
Islam was heavily engaged in the advocacy against the use of EVM in elections in Bangladesh, utilizing her knowledge as a computer scientist to raise awareness against the flaws of the machines and the system. In 2018, the BNP nominated her to contest for the Faridpur-2 constituency. However, the election was widely regarded as flawed and rigged, with Awami League activists allegedly taking control of the polling centres, supported by the police. It was alleged that ballot boxes were stuffed the night before the election.
She was appointed a key member of the party's foreign affairs committee, in which capacity she briefed diplomats in Dhaka on the BNP's position on democratic backsliding during the 2024 election cycle. She was subjected to smear campaigns by pro-Awami League activists for her role during the pro-democracy movement.
In February 2026, Islam won the 2026 Bangladeshi general election contesting at the Faridpur-2 constituency securing 120,909 votes while her nearest rival of the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis candidate Shah Akram Ali received 87,956 votes.
.jpg)
