Mahmud Ali (Bengali: মাহমুদ আলী; Urdu: محمود علی; 1 September 1919 – 17 November 2006) was a progressive leftist Pakistani politician known for his agrarian politics.

After the dissolution of the assembly and abrogation of the 1956 Constitution he worked towards the restoration of provinces and a parliamentary form of government based on adult franchise.

Mahmud Ali was born into a Bengali Muslim family of lawyers, writers and politicians on 1 September 1919, in Alimabagh, Sunamganj, Sylhet District.

Mahmud Ali matriculated from the Sunamganj Government Jubilee High School in 1937 and studied at the MC College, Sylhet.

[2] Sir Syed Muhammed Saadullah was elected to the assembly and in the same year joined the All India Muslim League on Jinnah's request.

[3] Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani adopted an uncompromising attitude and the resolution of the Working Committee of the Assam Provincial Muslim League held on 15 December 1944, called upon the government to abolish "the illegal and pernicious Line System" and immediately provide land to landless Bengali immigrants.

The Working Committee of the Provincial League met on 17 and 18 November 1946 and proposed to submit the issue to the arbitration of Liaquat and Nehru.

Towards the end of December 1946, Bhashani, along with Mahmud Ali chalked out a programme of Civil Disobedience against the Assam Government's eviction policy and repression of Muslims.

The Punjab and Bengal legislative assemblies decided in favour of partition and the Muslim-majority districts formed a part of the Dominion of Pakistan.

However, after Ali's release from imprisonment he concentrated his efforts towards the Sylhet referendum and the people decided in favour of merging the district with the province of East Bengal.

He launched a weekly newspaper, the Nao Belal, to propagate the cause of the peasantry and working classes and to further the demand of Bengali as a state language.

As president, Mahmud Ali opposed the US-Pakistan Military Aid Pact signed on 19 April 1954 and on his party's appeal almost all political parties observed "Anti US-Pakistan Military Pact Day"[6][7] Ali was elected the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for constituency Sylhet-I in 1965 as a representative of the National Democratic Front.