Mashrafe elected MP for 2nd term

Awami League candidate and former captain of Bangladesh cricket team Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has won in the Narail-2 constituency by bagging 1,16,378 votes more than his rival.

According to the returning officer, Mashrafe got 1,89,102 votes with his electoral symbol boat.

His rival Sheikh Hafizur Rahman from Bangladesh Workers Party got only 3,041 votes with the hammer symbol.

Earlier, Mashrafe, also Awami League's youth and sports affairs secretary, voted at Narail Technical School and College polling centre at 11:15am on Sunday.

After casting his vote, Mashrafe told reporters that he was satisfied with the turnout of the voters.

"I am satisfied with the turnout so far. However, in the morning of winter, there is a little less attendance, but I think this number will increase as the day progresses,” he stated.

Mashrafe's constituency is part of Narail Sadar and Lohagara. It has a total of 3,64,937 voters who exercised their franchise at 804 polling booths in 147 polling centres.

A total of seven candidates contested in the Narail-2 constituency including Mashrafe. Others were Hafizur Rahman, Md Monirul Islam from NPP, Fayek Uzzaman, Md Latifur Rahman from Gano Front, Md Mahbubur Rahman from Islami Oikya Jote, and independent candidate Lion Md Noor Islam.

Hafizur has boycotted the election, alleging irregularities by ruling party supporters. “Ballots were forcibly sealed and my agents were thrown out from different centres.”

Mashrafe, the most successful captain of the national cricket team participated in the 2018 elections and was elected as a member of parliament. Since then, he has been praised for doing various developmental works in the parliamentary area. So, this time also he has been nominated by the ruling Awami League for the Narail-2 constituency. Because of his huge popularity, there is no one to challenge him in this election. There was one as an independent candidate. But senior Awami League leader Syed Faizul Amir Litu withdrew from the election on Wednesday by supporting Mashrafe. As a result, Mashrafe became an MP for the second time from Narail-2.