Voting underway in Thakurgaon-1 by-polls

Voting is underway in the by-election for the Thakurgaon-1 constituency (Sadar, Ruhia and Bhulli), the seat vacated by President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Polling began simultaneously at all 185 centres in the constituency at 8 am on Thursday (29 October) and will continue without a break until 4 pm. Voters have been turning out at various centres since morning, and at some centres long queues had formed even before polling began.

District Election Officer and Returning Officer Md Kamrul Islam said voting started on schedule and that all preparations have been completed for a fair and impartial election. Adequate law enforcement personnel have been deployed at every centre, and striking forces and reserve forces are on standby.

According to the election office, of the constituency’s three upazilas, Thakurgaon Sadar has 113 centres, the newly formed Ruhia has 33, and Bhulli has 39. The constituency has 515,853 voters in total: 257,219 men, 258,630 women and four third-gender voters. Another 287 voters have registered to vote by postal ballot, 249 of them men and 38 women.

Six candidates had submitted nomination papers for the by-election, and all were declared valid at the scrutiny on 29 September. On 5 October, district BNP vice-president Md Obaidullah Masud withdrew his candidacy on a party decision, leaving five candidates in the race. BNP’s Mirza Faisal Amin and Delwar Hossain, the candidate backed by Jamaat-e-Islami and like-minded parties, are considered the main contenders. The other three are Hafez Dr Md Khademul Islam of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Md Abdul Alim Nizami of Khelafat Andolan, and Hussain Muhammad Omar Faruk of Bangladesh Congress.

Mirza Fakhrul won the presidential election on 20 August with 255 votes. Retired Colonel Oli Ahmad, LDP chairman and candidate of the Jamaat-led 11-party alliance, received 88 votes. The Thakurgaon-1 seat fell vacant when Fakhrul was elected president, prompting this by-election.

In the 13th parliamentary election on 12 February this year, former BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul won the seat with 228,075 votes. Jamaat candidate Delwar Hossain received 132,584 votes, and Islami Andolan’s Khademul Islam received 3,833. Today’s vote will elect the constituency’s new member of parliament.