Brahmanbaria-2 by-election: Voter turnout low as polls begin
Voter turnout has been low as polling began for the Brahmanbaria-2 (Sarail-Ashuganj) by-election today.
Polls started at 8am at 132 centres and will continue till 4pm on Sunday (5 November).
At around 8:30am in the morning, it was seen that the presence of voters was very low at the Annada Government High School polling station in Sarail.
One or two voters are coming after a while. As a result, the centre is getting fewer votes. 82 votes have been cast in the centre till 9:30am.
A similar situation was seen at Sohagpur South Government Primary School in Ashuganj.
Annada Government High School Presiding Officer Shahadat Hossain said the total number of voters in his centre is about 4,000.
"Voter turnout has been low. However, the number of voters will increase with time. we hope," he added.
Sohagpur South Government Primary School Presiding Officer Salauddin Ahmed said there are 4,297 voters under the centre. Of this, 87 votes were cast in the centre from 8am to 9:30am.
Meanwhile, the district administration and police administration have taken extensive security measures to tackle untoward instances.
More than 800 policemen, and 7 platoon BGB members along with RAB, Ansar, judicial and executive magistrates have been deployed for the security of the polling station and surrounding areas.
A total of 4,10,072 voters will exercise their right to vote in the election.
5 candidates are competing. They are - Awami League nominated candidate Shahjahan Alam, Jatiya Party's Abdul Hamid Bhasani, Zaker Party's Zahirul Islam Jewel, National People's Party's Razzak Hossain and independent candidate Ziaul Haque Mridha.
On 30 September, the Election Commission declared the seat vacant after the death of Abdus Sattar Bhuiya, member of parliament of the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency.
BNP breakaway leader Abdus Sattar was elected from Brahmanbaria-2 in the 11th national elections held in 2018. Later, he resigned on the party's decision in December last year. After that, in a by-election was held on 1 February. Sattar was re-elected as an independent candidate.