Pabna-4 by-election held amid boycott by BNP candidate

The by-election to Pabna-4 constituency was held today amid low turnout of voters and boycott by the BNP candidate.

The voting began at 9:00am and continued till 5:00pm without any break.

Three candidates -- Nuruzzaman Biswash from Awami League, Habibur Rahman Habib from BNP and Rezaul Karim from Jatiya Party -- took part in the by-polls.

BNP candidate Habibur Rahman boycotted the by-election around 12pm, bringing allegation of irregularities against the ruling party and administration.

Addressing a press conference at his residence in Shahpur village in Ishwardi upazila, he also demanded a fresh and fair election.

"There is no election environment. There was no BNP polling agent in any centre due to threat of ruling party men," he said.

Visiting around 10 polling centres, our local correspondent found the low presence of voters. Besides, BNP agents were not seen in any polling centres.

Monojit Kormokar, presiding officer of Kalikapur school centre in Ishwardi upazila, said no BNP agent was seen in his polling centre.

Refuting the allegations of BNP candidate, AL central committee organising secretary SM Kamal Hossain told the journalists that BNP took part in the election "just for nomination business".

There are 381,112 voters in the constituency comprising Ishwardi and Atghoria upazilas, said Abdul Latif, district election officer and also the returning officer of the polls.

The parliamentary seat fell vacant after the death of AL lawmaker Shamsur Rahman Sherif Dilu on April 2.