Ershad, (Lt General) Hussain M  president of Bangladesh. Born on 1 February 1930 in the district of rangpur, Hussain Muhammad Ershad had his early education in his home town Rangpur and graduated from Dhaka University in 1950. He was commissioned in the Pakistan army in 1952. During 1960-62, he was an Adjutant in the East Bengal Regimental Centre, Chittagong. He completed the Staff Course from the Staff College in Quetta in 1966. In 1968, he served as Brigade Major of 54 Brigade in Sialkot. After getting promotion as Lieutenant Colonel in 1969 he commanded the 3rd East Bengal Regiment during 1969-70 and the 7th East Bengal Regiment during 1971-72.

After his repatriation from Pakistan, Ershad was appointed Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army in 1973. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel on 12 December 1973 and then to Brigadier in June 1975. He attended the National Defence College at Delhi in 1975. The same year he was promoted to the rank of Major General, and was appointed the Deputy Chief of Army Staff. Ershad was made the Chief of Army Staff in December 1978, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1979.

Soon after the assassination of President ziaur rahman on 30 May 1981, Ershad's interest in politics became apparent. On 24 March 1982, General Ershad usurped state power by removing the elected government of President abdus sattar. General Ershad ruled the country as Chief Martial Law Administrator till December 1983. He then took over the country's Presidency from Justice afm ahsanuddin chowdhury on 11 December 1983. Ershad introduced the upazila system and the first elections to the upazila parishad were held in May 1985.

Ershad was elected to the Presidency for a five-year term in 1986 as a nominee of jatiya party, which he established in 1986. All major political parties had boycotted the election. In the general elections of 1986 Ershad's Jatiya Party could manage absolute majority in the jatiya sangsad. Although participated by the awami league, bangladesh nationalist party boycotted the election. The Sangsad was however dissolved by the President on 7 December 1987 in the face of a strong opposition movement. The general elections that followed in 1988 were boycotted by all major opposition political parties. Amidst a relentless combined movement by the opposition, Ershad was forced to step down on 6 December 1990.

General Ershad was subsequently arrested and kept confined. In the Jatiya Sangsad elections of 1991, Ershad contested from jail from five constituencies of Rangpur and won in all the seats. The BNP government instituted a number of graft cases against him on charge of corruption, and in some of those cases he was found guilty and thus convicted. In the 1996 general elections he again secured five seats in the Assembly. After six years of confinement Ershad was released on bail on 9 January 1997. He lost his membership in the Jatiya Sangsad due to his conviction by the court. The Jatiya Party having been divided into three groups in 2000, Ershad still leads one of the factions as chairman. [Helal Uddin Ahmed]