Rezaul Karim Chowdhury

Chowdhury was the president of Bangladesh Chhatra League unit from 1972 to 1976. From 1976 to 1978, he was the general secretary of the North Chittagong District unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League.^[1]

Chowdhury worked in the Chittagong City unit of the Awami League from 1997 to 2006 as the information and research secretary. He then became the organising secretary of the city unit; a position he held till 2014 when he became the joint general secretary.^[1]

Chowdhury was nominated by Awami League to contest the Chittagong City elections in 2020.^[4] The party did not nominate the incumbent and Awami League politician AJM Nasir Uddin on instructions from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Chittagong city Awami League was divided into two fractions; led by A J M Nasir Uddin and the family of ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury. Chowdhury got the nomination by not being involved in either fraction.^[5] He went on to win the election receiving 369,000 votes while his nearest rival from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party received 52,000 votes in a rigged election.^[6][7] He received the status of state minister on 7 August 2022.^[8] Later in 2024, the court found evidence of election rigging for the election.^[7]

He abandoned his position and did not appear at his office after the fall of the Awami League government amid the 2024 student-people's uprising. The interim government removed the mayor on 19 August and appointed Chittagong divisional commissioner Md Tofael Hossain as administrator.^[7]

Chowdhury is married to Selina Akter and has a son and two daughters.^[1]