Ariful Haque Choudhury

Ariful Haque Choudhury (born 23 November 1959) is a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician. He is currently a member of Parliament from Sylhet-4 and serves as the Minister of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Minister of Labour and Employment. Choudhury is also an executive member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. In 2003, he was elected as a councillor of Sylhet City Corporation. He later served two consecutive terms as the mayor of Sylhet.

Early life Ariful Haque Choudhury was born on 23 November 1959 in Kumarpara, Sylhet, to the famous Chowdhury family of Sylhet. His father is Muhammad Shafiqul Haque Choudhury, and his mother is Amina Begum.

Career Choudhury surrendered to joint forces on 25 February 2007 in Sylhet after emergency law was declared in Bangladesh. He was a ward commissioner of Sylhet City Corporation. He was also the chief of the development committee of Sylhet City Corporation. On 19 June 2007, Haji Dilar Ahmed, a contractor, sued Choudhury for extorting lakh from him over awarding a contract for road construction with Kotwali Police Station. The Anti-Corruption Commission sued Choudhury for accumulating 26.3 million taka in illegal wealth through corruption with the Sylhet Police Station on 9 September 2007.

Choudhury is a former president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Sylhet unit. His wife was sentenced to three years imprisonment in the case.

On 9 April 2013, Choudhury was acquitted on the corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Choudhury was a follower of Saifur Rahman, former Finance Minister of Bangladesh and Member of Parliament from Sylhet-1. After his win, he completed the Saifur Rahman Shishu Park in Sylhet and sent it for approval to the relevant ministry. He was arrested after surrendering to the court on this case on 30 December 2014.

On 7 January 2015, Choudhury was suspended by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives from his post of mayor after being charged in the Shah A M S Kibria murder case. On 13 March 2017, the Bangladesh High Court issued a stay order on Choudhury's suspension from the post of mayor of Sylhet. A bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, Appellate Division, led by Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, agreed with the High Court order and announced that there was no restriction on Choudhury resuming his office on 23 March 2017. The ministry also suspended Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, mayor of Rajshahi and also a Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician. He protested outside the office of deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police over the arrest of Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists who were campaigning on his re-election. He was re-elected mayor of Sylhet on 12 August 2018. He beat the Awami League candidate, Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, by 6,196 votes. Foyzul Haque Raju, an activist of Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chatra Dal, died in factional clashes near Choudhury's home after celebrating his election victory that day. He was sworn in on 5 September 2018 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

On 28 August 2018, the Bangladesh High Court ordered the Bangladesh government to hand over Choudhury's passport to him. The passport was confiscated after he had received bail from Shah A M S Kibria murder case.

In August 2019, Choudhury announced a 7.89 billion taka budget, including 2 billion taka allocation for infrastructure project from the Bangladesh government, for Sylhet City Corporation. On 28 September 2019, Choudhury filed a general diary with Kotwali Police Station over threats he received on the phone.

22 councillors of Sylhet City Corporation, out of a total 36 councillors, filed a complaint against Choudhury with the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives over corruption allegations and called for his removal. Some of the councillors would later tell the press that they did not call for his removal but for an investigation of specific corruption allegations against him. On 16 September 2023, he was promoted from the position of member of the National Executive Committee to advisor to the chairperson of the BNP.

13th General Election of Bangladesh candidacy

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party nominated Choudhury as its candidate for the Sylhet-4 (Gowainghat–Jaintiapur–Companiganj) constituency in the 13 Bangladeshi general election, announced on 4 November 4, 2025 by party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. According to local BNP sources, Choudhury had initially sought the party's nomination in Sylhet-1, where he was served as mayor twice, but replaced by party's other heavyweight candidate Khandaker Abdul Muktadir. Although he had earlier declined proposals to contest from Sylhet-4, but was later instructed by then party chairperson late Khaleda Zia and began campaigning in the constituency on November 7, 2025.

Personal life On 10 September 2020, Ariful Haque Choudhury tested positive for COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. His wife also tested positive in June 2020 and recovered at home.