4 women out of 62 independent candidates become MPs

Four women out of 62 independent candidates won in the 12th national election and became members of parliament.

They are Amatul Kibria Keya in Habiganj-1, Joya Sen Gupta in Sunamganj-2, Tahmina Begum in Madaripur-3, Abdullah Nahid Nigar in Gaibandha-1.

Former MP Amatul Kibria Keya Chowdhury was unofficially elected from Habiganj-1 constituency securing 75,052 votes. Her nearest candidate MA Munim Chowdhury Babu from Jatiya Party got 30,703 votes.

In Madaripur-3 constituency, Awami League candidate and incumbent MP Abdus Sobhan alias Golap was defeated by Tahmina Begum by a huge margin of 34,662 votes.

Independent candidate Tahmina Begum got 96,633 votes while Md Sobhan bagged 61,971 votes. Tahmina is a member of the reserved seats for women and president of Kalkini Upazila Awami League.

In Sunamganj-2, Jaya Sengupta, wife of late Awami League lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta, won by defeating Awami League candidate Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mahmud alias Al Amin Chowdhury.

According to the results of the elections, Jaya defeated Mahmud, the younger brother of IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, by about 8,000 votes. Mahmud got 42,075 votes and Jaya got 50, 295 votes.

In Gaibandha-1, independent candidate Engineer Abdullah Nahid Nigar won her mother's seat defeating Jatiya Party's two-time MP Barrister Shamim Haider Patwary.

Nahid Nigar got 66,049 votes while her nearest rival  Shamim got 43,491.

Engineer Abdullah Nahid Nigar is the daughter of Sundarganj Upazila Awami League President Afruza Bari.

The Awami League left the Gaibandha-1 seat for the Jatiya Party in the coalition decision. Then Afruza Bari had to withdraw her candidacy after getting the nomination of the boat. However, her daughter Nahid Nigar contested the election as an independent candidate.