Shawdesh Desk:

Voting in the by-election for Gaibandha-5 constituency, which was suspended due to irregularities, is underway with participation of voters in a festive mood.

Voting started at 8:00am and will continue till 4:30pm. No untoward incident was reported till the filing of this report around 10:00am.

People were seen standing in long queues since morning, ignoring the cold.

The presence of female voters is comparatively higher than their male counterparts.

A total of 3,39,743 people are expected to exercise their franchise in 145 polling centres. Of them, 1,70,160 are females and 1,69,583 are male.

District Election Officer and Returning officer Abdul Motaleb said that of the 145 polling centres, 72 are consider ‘important’ while 32 are counted as ‘most important’.

All preparations have been taken to hold a smooth, free and fair election, he said.

Elections will be monitored through CCTV cameras as done before.

RAB, police, BGB and Ansar members will remain deployed to hold the election peacefully, said Motaleb.

The candidates of the Gaibandha-5 by-election are: Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju, Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman.

The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazilas.

On October 12 last year, the Election Commission suspended the by-election due to ‘rampant irregularities’ on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls.

Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12.

A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12 last year.

Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election.