Some heavyweight candidates including nominees from the Awami League and other parties, and independent contenders failed to secure victory in their respective constituencies in the 12th parliamentary elections.
Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, Workers' Party's Fazle Hossain Badsha, Jatiyo Party's Sharifa Quader, Krishak Sramik Janata League's Quader Siddiqi, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal's Hasanul Haque Inu, Awami League nominated candidate in the Manikganj-2 seat Momtaz Begum are some of those giants who failed to win.
According to unofficial result, the majority of these heavyweight candidates were defeated by independent candidates with political affiliations to the Awami League who were denied party's nomination.
Besides, three state ministers of Awami League cabinet lost to independent candidates of their respective constituencies in the race of 12th parliamentary elections held on Sunday.
They are State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Swapan Bhattacharjee and State Minister for Environment and Forest Enamur Rahman.
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali contested the election from Habiganj-4 constituency and he was defeated by independent candidate Barrister Sayedul Haque Sumon. Sumon bagged the seat getting 1,69,99 votes while the state minister got 69,543 votes.
State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Swapan Bhattacharjee also failed to win the election. He lost to independent candidate Yakub Ali of Jashore-5 (Manirampur) constituency.
Yakub Ali got 76, 207 votes in the election with the 'Eagle' symbol while Swapan Bhattacharjee secured 71,336 votes.
The elections were held in 299 constituencies out of 300 as the EC earlier postponed the elections to Naogaon-2 constituency due to the death of an independent candidate, Aminul Islam.
Voting was postponed in three polling centers due to violence, capturing of polling stations and ballot stuffing.
A total of 1,969 candidates, including 1,533 from 28 political parties and 436 independents, contested the polls.
Of the candidates, 266 from the ruling Awami League (AL), 265 from Jatiya Party (JaPa), 135 from Trinomul BNP, 66 from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD), 122 from National People's Party (NPP), 13 from Jatiya Party (JP) and 10 from Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh.
Additional Secretary of the EC Ashok Kumar Devnath said a total of 20,773 observers, including 2,000 from different countries across the globe, monitored the elections. The election observers also include media personnel.
According to EC officials, total number of voters this year was 11,96,89,289, including 6,76,09,741 males, 5,89,18,699 females and 849 trans-genders.
