Voting in by-elections to six parliamentary seats that fell vacant following the resignation of Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmakers in December ended on Wednesday afternoon without any major untoward incidents.
The six constituencies are — Thakurgaon-3, Bogura-4 and 6, Chapainawabganj-2, 3 and Brahmanbaria-2. Meanwhile, counting of votes was on.
Voting in the polls began at about 8:30am and continued till 4:30pm, said SM Asaduzzaman, joint secretary of the Election Commission.
Electronic voting machines were used in the by-elections, but no CCTV cameras had been installed in the polling centers, he added.
A total of 40 aspirants vied in the six constituencies for the lawmaker posts.
Earlier on December 11, 2022, five out of seven BNP lawmakers submitted their resignations to the Speaker of the National Parliament, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, as part of their anti-government movement with a 10-point demand that includes the dissolution of parliament.
The MPs who resigned in person were Md Zahidur Rahman of Thakurgaon-3, Md Mosharaf Hossen of Bogura-4, Gulam Mohammad Siraj of Bogura-6, Md Aminul Islam of Chapainawabganj-2, and Rumeen Farhana, from the women’s reserved seats.
Md Harunur Rashid of Chapainawabganj-3, who was in Australia at the time, and Abdus Sattar Buiyan of Brahmanbaria-2, who was ill, were unable to resign in person and instead did so via email.
Later, the parliament secretariat confirmed the resignation of Sattar after talking with him, and the resignation of Harun was accepted as he submitted his resignation again after returning home.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal Wednesday afternoon said that the average voter turnout in the by-elections to six constituencies was 15-25 percent.
"Voter turnout was relatively low in the by-polls. Approximately 15-25 percent voters cast votes but it cannot be said for sure yet. We have to wait a little more for that," he said in a media briefing at the Election Commission Building in Agargaon on Wednesday.
The CEC also claimed that no significant evidence of irregularities or rigging was found in the voting of six constituencies.
"The polling in six constituencies was peaceful and fair," he said.
The CEC said 40 candidates contested in six constituencies. Voting was held through 867 EVMs and the number of voters in six constituencies was 22.54 lakh.
Some 1,100 police were been deployed at the polling stations while four platoons of BGB members, nine teams of RAB, nine mobile teams of police, and four striking teams also performed their duties to maintain the law and order situation.
The government had announced a public holiday on Wednesday in the election areas on the occasion of the by-elections.