AL sinks as rebel wins

Awami League rebel Amanur Rahman Khan Rana won the Tangail-3 by-election by a wide margin yesterday.
Rana bagged 97,808 votes while his rivals AL-nominated candidate Shahidul Islam Lebu got 44,531 votes and Jatiya Party-backed candidate Syed Abu Yusuf Abdullah Tuhin 11,684 votes.
Of the 2,71,329 voters in the constituency, 1,54,023 cast their ballots at the by-election.
The main opposition BNP boycotted the by-polls.
In his reaction after the polls, Rana said the election was free and fair. He said he was still with the Awami League and had confidence in party President Sheikh Hasina.
AL-backed candidate Shahidul Islam Lebu alleged that Rana's men had prevented his voters from going to polling centres in two unions.
However, JP-nominated candidate Tuhin said the polls were held in a free and fair manner.
Returning Officer Syed Khurshid Anwar said he had not received any complaints from the candidates. The by-election, he noted, had been held freely and fairly.
Voting began at 8:00am and continued till 4:00pm without break. A large number of female voters cast their ballots while the presence of male voters was thin at polling stations.
Shahidul Lebu, whose election symbol was the boat, cast his vote at Ratanpur Government Primary School polling centre.
Rana, with the pineapple as his election symbol, cast his ballot at the Mukul Academy centre in Ghatail municipality.
Tuhin's election symbol was the plough. He cast his vote at Gourangi Akashia Goverment Primary School centre in Anehola union.
The parliamentary seat for the constituency fell vacant following the death of ruling Awami League lawmaker Matiur Rahman on September 13.
Rana, who was religious affairs secretary of AL Tangail district unit, decided to contest the by-polls as an independent candidate after failing to get the party ticket. This decision on his part led to his expulsion from the party on Friday.