The election to Dhaka-17 parliamentary by-polls ended without any untoward incidents on Monday. The voting started at 8am and continued till 4pm without any break.
The vote was cast through ballot paper as there are some 3,25,205 enlisted voters in the constituency where female voters are 1,53,580 and the rest are male voters.
The number of polling centres in Dhaka-17 is 124 and the voting was being monitored by 853 CCTVs.
A total of eight candidates participated in the by-polls. They are – Mohammad Ali Arafat from the ruling Awami League, Sikder Anisur Rahman of Jatiya Party, Kazi M Rashidul Hasan from Jaker Party, Sheikh Habibur Rahman from Trinamool BNP, M Rezaul Islam Shawpan from Bangladesh Congress, Bangladesh Sangskrit Mukti Jote candidate M Akbor Hossain, and two independent candidates M Ashraful Alam alias Hero Alam and M Tariqul Islam.
Tariqul boycotted the election amid allegations of irregularities, while Hero Alam alleged that his agents were barred from entering polling stations and that several of them were harassed by the Awami League activists and leaders.
All the Election Commission officials, including Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal, election commissioners Brig Gen (retd) Ahsan Habib Khan, Begum Rashida Sultana, Anisur Rahman, Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Devnath, NID Director General AKM Humayun Kabir and IDEA-2 Project Director Brig Gen Abul Hasnat M Sayem have been engaged in election observation at the EC control room since morning.
On May 15, the constituency comprising Gulshan, Banani, Bhasantek and cantonment fell vacant following the death of its lawmaker film actor Akbar Hossain Pathan (Farooq).
Besides, the voting in other 78 local government bodies’ elections was also held on Monday across the country.
