The parliamentary election of Kishoreganj-1 constituency will be held on February 28.

Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed announced the schedule at a press briefing after a meeting at the Nirbachan Bhaban this evening.

The constituency has been vacant since January 3 as Syed Ashraful Islam, also former public administration minister, passed away at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok.

His death came just four days after he was elected MP in December 30 parliamentary election from Kishoreganj-1.

The EC Secretary also said the election will be considered as the fresh election as newly elected lawmaker from the seat Syed Ashraful Islam died before taking oath.

As per the schedule, the last date for submission of nomination paper has been fixed January 31, while nomination scrutiny on February 3 and last date for nomination withdrawal on February 10.

A group of foreign and local election observers, who monitored the December 30 parliamentary election, has termed the election free, fair, peaceful and on a par with major democratic countries in the world.

The foreign observers from Canada, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, who came to Bangladesh at the invitation of  Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) and SAARC Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), also said the just concluded election was “much better” than past elections in Bangladesh and could be a “glowing example for other democratic countries”.

The foreign observers were speaking at a press conference held at Jatiya Press Club yesterday to share what they have seen during their daylong visit to nine polling centres in the capital on Sunday.

“This was a world standard election…We can compare this with the elections of major democratic countries,” said former president of Kolkata Press Club, Kamal Bhattacharya.

The senior journalist told Bangladeshi media that he had covered two past elections in Bangladesh as a reporter, and this time he came as an observer.

“I talked to a number of voters standing in queues and inside polling centres and no one told me they faced any threat, harassment or intimidation,” he said.

He said voters had trust and confidence in the Election Commission and authorities concerned that they would follow the best practices in the election; the arrangements helped voters to cast their votes smoothly and with safety.

Another observer from Nepal, Advocate Mohamadin Ali, said Bangladesh has set the best example of a high standard election.

Former minister and member of Nepal Communist Party, Hakikullah Musalman, said he was immensely impressed to see such a peaceful, disciplined and orderly election in Bangladesh.

Speaking at the press conference, Prof Mohammed Abed Ali, executive director of Election Monitoring Forum, informed that the forum is an association of 31 organisations and 26 NGOs registered under the Election Commission.

He said they deployed 5,765 observers in 214 constituencies out of 299, who visited 17,165 centres. Abed Ali said it was a peaceful election and it was far better than previous ones.

Director General of External Publicity Wing of the Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Sarwar Mahmood; Canadian observers Tania Dawn Foster and Chally Foster; Nepalese Communist Party member and former MP Nazir Mia; lawyer of Kolkata Judge Court Gautom Ghosh; writer and researcher from Sri Lanka Mohammed Ehsan Iqbal; and SAARC Human Rights Foundation's director Masum Chowdhury were also present at the press conference.

BNP candidate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan has been elected in Brahmanbaria-2 following yesterday's re-polling in three centres of the constituency.

Sattar bagged 1,274 votes yesterday and won with a total of 83,997 votes.

His closest rival Moyeen Uddin, an independent, bagged a total of 75,419.

Sattar had already been leading the polls with 82,723 votes, said Election Commission officials.

The number of constituents under the centres was 10,572. Only 4,300 voted yesterday, said Returning Officer Hayat-Ud-Dwollah Khan as he announced the unofficial result.

There were a total 132 polling centres in Brahmanbaria-2.

Voting was suspended in three centres during the December 30 election due to violence. The centres are Jatrapur Government Primary School, Bahadurpur Government Primary School and Sohagpur Dakkhin Government Primary School.

Including this, eight lawmakers have been elected from the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront. The Awami League-led alliance won 288 seats.

An activist of ruling Awami League (AL), who was injured in an attack allegedly by BNP men at a Rajshahi polling centre on election day, succumbed this morning.

With his death, the death toll from polls-violence reached 19.

Ismail Hossain, 50, died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital where he was admitted after the attack, reports our Rajshahi correspondent quoting Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, a senior doctor of the hospital’s ICU.

Deceased Ismail was the president of AL’s Election Steering Committee of Daogaon union in Godagari upazila.

He was attacked by BNP activists at Palpur Government Primary School polling centre in Godagari yesterday afternoon, said Abdur Razzak Khan, additional superindent of police in Rajshahi.

HOW MAY PEOPLE KILLED ON ELECTION DAY?

Election violence claimed at least 18 lives yesterday, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country.

Among the dead, eight people were of AL and four of BNP.

WHAT IS THE ELECTION RESULT?

AL President Sheikh Hasina has led her party to a third consecutive win in parliamentary polls, securing two-third majority in yesterday's election held in an atmosphere dominated by the ruling party men. 

Hasina is set to become the prime minister for the third straight time -- an unprecedented feat in the country's history.

Most of the lawmakers-elect of the Jatiya Party yesterday said the party should join the Awami League-led new government.

The opinion came at a joint meeting of JP presidium members and MPs-elect at the party chief's Banani office, JP Co-chairman GM Quader told reporters after the meeting.

The party's parliamentary body will decide its role in the 11th parliament.

“Our newly elected MPs will join the parliamentary party meeting tomorrow [today] after taking the oath,” Quader added.

Meanwhile, the oath-taking ceremony of MPs-elect will be held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban today, said a parliament secretariat press release yesterday. 

At 11:00am, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will administer the oath.

At the briefing, Quader said, “The parliamentary party meeting will decide what will be the Jatiya Party's role in parliament, considering the interest of the country and the grand alliance."

He added that they would talk about the issue with the alliance after the meeting.

“We are in the grand alliance and contested the election with the alliance partners with identical goals. So, we'll finalise all the decisions through discussions."

The JP co-chairman, who presided over yesterday's meeting, said they discussed the country's political situation at the joint meeting.

Party Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga said they would take some organisational steps to strengthen the party.

He added that parliamentary party members would sit with the AL-led grand alliance to determine the party's role in parliament.

JP Chairman HM Ershad and Senior Co-chairman Raushan Ershad were not present at the meeting.

On Tuesday, Moshiur said they would decide yesterday whether they would remain as the opposition or part of government in the House.

OFFICIAL POLLS RESULTS

In another development, the Election Commission yesterday in its official results said the AL bagged 257 seats and the JP 22 seats in Sunday's national election.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda at a post-election press conference on Monday and EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed at the end of announcement of unofficial results of the polls said the AL won in 259 constituencies and the JP in 20.

EC officials said they made the mistake while preparing the list of all winning candidates hurriedly.

The commission yesterday published a gazette notification of all 298 winning candidates.

According to the official results of the December 30 polls, the AL-led grand alliance bagged 288 seats while the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront got seven.

Voting was suspended at three polling stations in Brahmanbaria-2 over violence. Voting in those centres will be held on January 9.

Election in Gaibandha-3 was rescheduled for January 27 after Oikyafront candidate TIM Fazley Rabbi died on December 20.