Ballots are being counted in the Narayanganj-5 by-elections unofficially won by Jatiya Party candidate Selim Osman on 26 June. Photo: Focus Bangla
Jatiya Party candidate AKM Selim Osman was unofficially declared elected in the Narayanganj-5 by-polls held on Thursday amid allegations of electoral fraud.
According to unofficial result, Selim Osman bagged 82,322 votes in 140 centres, out of total 141, while his nearest independent candidate SM Akram polled 62,297.
Voting in Char Srirampur in Bandar upazila was suspended due to violence.
Earlier, voting in the parliamentary seat was held from 8:00am to 4:00pm amid allegation of vote rigging and ballot box-stuffing against the supporters of Selim Osman.
SM Akram alleged that the supporters of Jatiya Party’s AKM Salim Osman cast fake votes and stuffed ballot boxes in many centres beforehand to manipulate the results.
Talking to reporters at Gano Bidya Niketon centre in the city around 12:45pm, he also said the followers of Salim Osman drove away his agents from some centres.
Meanwhile, the JP candidate denied the allegation.
The parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of Jatiya Party lawmaker Nasim Osman on April 29.
Four candidates were in the polls race with the two others are Krishak Sramik Janata League candidate Shafiqul Islam Delwar with ‘kerchief’ as election symbol and independent candidate Mamun Sirajul Majid with ‘shrimp’.
A total of 342,405 voters — 174,311 males and 168,094 females — were eligible to exercise their franchise at 674 booths in 141 polling stations in the by-polls.
A team of 18 security men, including four armed police members, guarded each normal polling station, while a 19-member team with five armed police members provided security to each vulnerable polling station.
Some 1,000 Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members remained deployed in the by-polls along with Dog Squad of Rab and its team of bomb disposal experts.
Alongside the regular law enforcing agencies, four platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were kept stationed in the election areas as striking force to maintain polls-friendly environment.
Over 4,500 members of BGB, Rapid Action Battalion, Armed Police Battalion, police, Ansar and Coast Guard were deployed in the constituency to maintain law and order.
Besides, four executive magistrates and two judicial magistrates had been there to curb polls-related violence and breach of the election code of conduct in the constituency.
Earlier, on May 19, the Election Commission announced the by-election schedule for the constituency.
Source: Prothom Alo
