BNP’s Mirza Faisal Amin wins Thakurgaon-1 by-election

BNP candidate Mirza Faisal Amin won the Thakurgaon-1 by-election by a huge margin, according to unofficial results announced on Thursday (29 October) night after the voting.

Faisal Amin bagged 2,27,917 votes with “Sheaf of Paddy” symbol, while his nearest rival Delawar Hossain of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami polled 96,513 with “Scales” symbol.

There were 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.

Five contenders were vied 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 was 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 also was 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, voting in the by-election to the constituency, which fell vacant after Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected President, was held peacefully.

Voting took place across 185 polling centres with an average voter turnout of 64.81 percent.

Source: UNB