Brahmanbaria-2 by-polls: Voter turn out low in first three hours
The by-elections for constituency-2 in Brahmanbaria's Sarail and Ashuganj upazilas are underway amid thin presence of voters this morning.
The voting started at 8:00am and will continue till 4:00pm without any break.
Only 260, out of 4,297 voters, cast their votes till 11:30am at Sohagpur Dakkhin Government Primary School polling centre in Ashuganj upazila, said Presiding Officer Salahuddin Ahmed.
The officer further said that the citizens might have lose their interest in casting votes as the by-polls for the constituency are being held for the third time in five years since the 11th national election in 2018.
At Sarail Kalikachha Pathshala High School, Presiding Officer Dr Rakibul Islam said only 354 voters, out of 2,666, cast votes till filing this report around 11:30am.
Our Brahmanbaria correspondent in the morning found that only 13 voters exercise their franchise till 8:45am at Sarail Annada Government High School polling centre.
Only 16 votes were cast till around 9:00am at Chunta South Government Primary School polling station.
However, there was no reports of any untoward incident till noon.
The parliamentary seat became vacant following the death of lawmaker Ukil Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan.
This is the third time, the people in the constituency-2 are voting since 2018.
During the 11th parliamentary election held in 2008, BNP nominated Ukil Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan won the election. Later December 11, 2022, the seat became vacant when he resigned as a MP as per his party decision. The Election Commission held the by-election for the vacated seat on February 1 this year and then Ukil Abdus Sattar resigned from the BNP and participated in the by-polls as an independent candidate and got elected. But on September 30, he died, and the EC again announced the by-election schedule.
A total of five candidates -- Awami League nominated candidate Shahjahan Alam Saju, Jatiya Party nominated Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, independent candidate Ziaul Haque Mridha, who was a former lawmaker, Zaker Party's Zahirul Islam Jewel and National Peoples Party's Abdur Razzak -- are contesting in the by-elections.
There are a total of 4,10,072 voters in the constituency.
Apart from 800 policemen and 1,584 ansar members and seven platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh and eight platoons of Rapid Action Battalion have been deployed to make the election fair and peaceful, said Returning Officer and Deputy Commissioner Md Shahgir Alam.
Besides, 17 executive magistrates and two judicial magistrates were deployed in 17 unions of the two upazilas.
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