Voting in the by-election to the Thakurgaon-1 constituency (Sadar, Ruhia and Bhulli) began on Thursday morning at 185 polling centres. Polling started at 8am and will continue until 4pm without any break.
A total of five candidates are contesting the by-election. Following scrutiny of nomination papers on 29 September, the nominations of six candidates were declared valid.
The candidates are BNP candidate Mirza Faisal Amin, brother of President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir; Delawar Hossain, candidate of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance; Hafez Dr Khademul Islam; Abdul Alim Nizami; and Hussain Muhammad Omar Faruk.
Stringent security measures have been put in place at polling centres for the by-election. In addition to police, members of the Special Response Battalion (SRB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and the Ansar and Village Defence Force have been deployed to help ensure a free and fair election.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) has expressed confidence that the by-election will be conducted smoothly and said there is no cause for concern surrounding the polls. To help ensure a free and fair election, a monitoring cell has been set up at the EC headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka. The cell will monitor polling centres, the law and order situation, and election management on a real-time basis.
However, rival candidates from the BNP and the 11-party alliance traded allegations on the eve of the election. The accusations were made at separate press conferences on Wednesday. Law enforcement agencies, however, are working to maintain stability and keep the situation under control.
The by-election was called after Mirza Fakhrul was elected the country’s 23rd President, defeating Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmad, the candidate of the 11-party alliance, by 255 votes on 20 August. The Thakurgaon-1 seat fell vacant following his election as President, leading to Thursday’s by-election.
The constituency has a total of 515,853 registered voters, including 257,219 men, 258,630 women, and four third-gender voters. In addition, 287 voters have registered to cast their ballots by post in the by-election, including 249 men and 38 women.
