AL man elected in Liton's constituency
Awami League (AL)-nominated Golam Mostafa Ahmed was elected yesterday in by-polls to the Gaibandha-1 constituency, which fell vacant following the murder of the ruling party lawmaker Manzurul Islam Liton last December.
Golam bagged 90,169 votes, beating his nearest rival, Jatiya Party-nominated barrister Shamim Haider Patwari, by 30,069 votes.
Returning Officer GM Shahatab Uddin announced this around 9:00pm, some four hours after polling ended with 49.97 percent of the over 3.3 lakh votes being cast amid a few scattered incidents of violence.
Golam told journalists at Chandipur around 1:30pm that voting was being held in a fair and peaceful manner. Shamim alleged to The Daily Star over the phone that vote rigging occurred in some places.
Visiting seven polling stations between 9:00am and 2:00pm, this correspondent hardly found any crowd.
Most voters he talked to credited the peaceful environment to the presence of over 4,000 law enforcers. Till 11:00am, one centre in Kismat Haldia Government High School witnessed 210 of its 3,408 votes being cast.
Casting her vote at the Uttar Shahabaj Government Primary School centre, Liton wife's Syeda Khurshida Jahan Smrity demanded that the killers be handed down exemplary punishment.
Liton was killed after unknown assailants opened fire on him inside his home in Sundarganj upazila on December 31. The Election Commission announced the polls schedule on February 5.
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