Thakurgaon-1 by-election vote counting going on

Vote counting is going on in Thakurgaon-1 by polls after taking non-stop voting since the morning 8:00am to the afternoon 4:00pm in 185 centres.

The Election Commission (EC) said.

There are a total of 516,138 registered voters in the constituency.

Of them, 257,475 are male voters, 258,659 female voters and four third gender voters.

There are five contenders in the election.

They are BNP’s Mirza Faisal Amin, younger brother of President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, with a sheaf of paddy symbol; Jamaat-e-Islami’s Delawar Hossain with scales; Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan’s Abdul Alim Nizami with banyan tree; Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s Khademul Islam with hand fan and Bangladesh Congress’ Hussain Muhammad Omar Faruk with a green coconut.

Security has been beefed up throughout the constituency with 21 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) being deployed along with police, Ansar and other security forces.

Judicial and executive magistrates have also been given responsibilities and CCTV cameras installed in the centres.

A total of 3,152 election officials including 185 presiding officers, 989 assistant presiding officers and 1,978 polling officers are overseeing the election.

The seat fell vacant after Mirza Fakhrul, winner of the constituency in the February 12 parliamentary election, took up his position as President on August 21.

Earlier, BNP-nominated candidate Mirza Faisal Amin and Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Delwar Hossain cast their votes in the by-election to the Thakurgaon-1 constituency on Thursday (29 October) morning.

Faisal Amin voted at Thakurgaon Government Girls' High School polling centre around 8am.

Before and after casting his vote, he exchanged greetings with voters present at the centre.

Talking to journalists after voting, Faisal Amin expressed confidence in a decisive victory, saying polling had just begun and he expected his party to win overwhelmingly.

“We will achieve an absolute victory, Inshallah,” he said.

He said he would visit different polling centres to observe the situation and expressed hope that the election would be held in a festive atmosphere.

“I don't see any concerns. All voters are my voters, and everyone will cast their votes peacefully,” he said, adding that the administration would take necessary measures if it considered any centre vulnerable.

Regarding voter turnout, Faisal Amin said the weather was somewhat unfavourable but expected the number of voters to increase as the day progressed.

Jamaat candidate Delwar Hossain cast his vote at Hajipara Adarsha High School polling centre in Thakurgaon municipality around 8:30am. He also exchanged greetings with voters before and after voting.

After casting his vote, Delwar urged voters to come to polling centres and exercise their franchise, saying it was too early to comment on the overall election environment as voting had only just started.

However, he raised questions about the identity of the presiding officer at the centre where he voted, alleging that the officer's identification card did not contain a photograph.

“How can we be sure that he is the actual person or someone else?” he asked, expressing concern over the possibility of proxy voting and requesting the returning officer to look into the matter.

He said the fairness of the election, being held under a party-led government, would depend on the government, election officials and the administration.

Thakurgaon District Election Officer and Returning Officer Md Kamrul Islam said all necessary preparations had been made to ensure a free, fair and neutral election.