AL candidate quits Rangpur-3 by-polls

Awami League candidate Rezaul Karim Razu has withdrawn his candidature from the by-election to Rangpur-3 parliamentary constituency scheduled to be held on October 5.

The parliamentary seat fell vacant after the death of Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad.

Razu, general secretary of Rangpur district unit AL, pulled out his candidature on the last day of nomination withdrawal this afternoon.

Razu along with several senior local leaders submitted a letter to the election office around 4:30 pm to withdraw his candidature, our Dinajpur Correspondent reports quoting Rangpur regional election officer GM Shahtab Uddin.

Before submission of the letter, a good number of leaders and activists of the party staged demonstration at Rangpur zero-point around 2:30pm protesting Razu’s decision to stay aside from the election.

Later, Razu told the agitated supporters and workers that he has taken the decision complying with the party’s central decision.

After withdrawing his candidature, Razu told reporters that he has withdrawn his candidature in line with the decision of the party chief.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on September 12, said that his party would consider if Jatiya Party wants to contest the Rangpur-3 by-polls from the AL-led alliance.

JP contested in the December 30 national election as a component of Awami League-led 14-party alliance, but now JP is acting as the opposition party in the parliament and it’s up to the JP whether it will contest the election separately, he said.

There are 442,072 voters in the constituency and of them 2,21,310 are male and 2,20,762 are female, according to the local election office.

JP Chairman HM Ershad won the December 30 national election from the constituency bagging 1 42, 926 votes while his nearest contestant was BNP nominated Rita Rahman who got 53,089 votes.