Gaibandha-5 by-polls underway

The by-election to the Gaibandha-5 constituency, which was suspended due to irregularities, is underway on Wednesday.

Voting started at 8:30am and will continue till 4pm without any break. A public holiday has already been declared in two upazilas (Saghata-Phulchhari) in the district to enable the voters to exercise their rights.

A total of 3, 39, 743 voters including 1, 69, 575 male will cast their votes at 952 booths of 145 centres under 17 unions of the upazilas to elect MP for the constituency.

The polling is being monitored through CCTV cameras as before while voting is held through electronic voting machines (EVMs).

On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to ‘rampant irregularities’ on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls.

Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and deputy speaker of parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold an election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly, it was scheduled for October 12.

A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12.

Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials, including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officers of the election.

The candidates of the Gaibandha-5 by-election are — Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju, Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam, and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman.

The police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and Ansar members are deployed to hold the election peacefully.