Mock voting through EVM held ahead of Bogura-6 by-polls

Mock voting using electronic voting machines (EVMs) was held at 141 polling centres under Bogura-6 (Sadar)constituency on Saturday to familiarise voters with the newly introduced system ahead of June 24 by-election.

Voters of different ages started thronging the centres in the morning to learn how to cast vote using EVMs, ASM Jakir Hossain, upazila election officer and assistant returning officer, told local journalists.

A total of 387,485 voters will exercise their franchise in the by-polls to the Bogura-6 seat using EVMs from 9am to 5pm on Monday.

BNP-backed candidate former lawmaker Golam Mohammad Siraj, Awami League-nominated candidate T Zaman Niketa, and Jatiya Party candidate former lawmaker Nurul Islam Omar, among seven contenders, are contesting the by-polls.

Four other candidates, including two independent ones, are also vying for the parliamentary seat.

Major SM Morshed Hasan, company commander of RAB-12, said law enforcers have already started crackdown on criminals and terrorists to avert any untoward incident on polling day.

“Our drive will continue till June 25,” the RAB official added.

The seat was declared vacant on April 30, after BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir refrained from taking oath as lawmaker within the stipulated time.

A lawmaker-elect must take oath within 90 days after parliament goes into its first sitting.

Five BNP MPs took oath although the party had rejected the December 30 parliamentary election results claiming massive irregularities in the polls by the ruling party.

The BNP lawmakers, who joined parliament, later said they took the oath as per directives from the party’s acting chairperson Tarique Rahman, who is now in exile in London.