Shawdesh Desk:

Voting in the by-polls to Rangpur -3 constituency, which fell vacant after the death of Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, is progressing in a peaceful manner.

The polling that started around 9:00 am on Saturday will continue till 5:00 pm without any break.

The constituency has 442,072 voters – 221,310 men and 220,762 women.

Six candidates are vying for the seat but voters say it will be a close contest among Jatiya Party’s Rahgir Al Mahi alias Saad Ershad, BNP’s Rita Rahman and independent candidate Hossain Mokbul Shahriar Asif.

The other contestants are – NPP’s Shafiul Alam (mango), Gano Front’s Kazi M Shahidullah Bayazid (fish) and Khelafat Majlish’s Towhidur Rahman Mandal (wall clock).

The ruling Awami League withdrew its candidate in support of the Jatiya Party contestant.

The EC has identified 49 out of the total 175 polling centres as important ones.

The authorities have taken a four-tier security measure. Eighteen platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh, 20 teams of Rapid Action Battalion, 30,00 police and Ansar members, 18 executive magistrates and four judicial magistrates are in the field to maintain law and order, and ensure security and fend off any attempt to create untoward incident.

A total of 3,244 election officials, including 175 presiding officers, 1,023 assistant presiding officers and 2,046 polling officers, are conducting the voting.

Deposed military dictator HM Ershad died on July 14. The EC announced schedule for the by-polls on September 1.

The EC has a constitutional obligation to complete the by-polls within 90 days after it falls vacant.