Voting in Dhaka-5, Naogaon-6 by-polls underway

Voting in by-elections to two parliamentary constituencies – Dhaka-5 and Naogaon-6 has started through using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The by-elections began at 9 am on Saturday (October 17) which will continue till 5 pm.

A total of six candidates are contesting in Dhaka-5 constituency and three candidates are contesting in Naogaon-6 constituency.

Candidates contesting in Dhaka-5 by are- Awami League (AL) backed M Kazi Monirul Islam, BNP nominated Salah Uddin Ahmed, Gonofront backed H M Ibrahim Bhuiyan, Jatiya Party nominated Mir Abdus Sabur, M Ansar Rahman Shikder of Bangladesh Congress and M Arifur Rahman alias Suman Master of Bangladesh Peoples Party.

Candidates contesting in Naogaon-6 are- M Anwar Hossain (Helal) nominated by AL, BNP nominated Sheikh Mohammad Rezaul Islam and the National People’s Party’s Khandaker Intekhab Alam.

The seats become vacant after the death of Habibur Rahman Mollah in Dhaka on May 8 and Israfil Alam in Naogaon on July 28.

According to Election Commission (EC), voting will be held in 187 polling stations in 14 wards in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). There are 4,71,129 voters here.

Voting will be held in 104 stations of 16 unions of Naogaon-6 constituency comprising Raninagar and Atrai. The total number of voters here is 3,06,725 people.

In order to maintain law and order, two Judicial Magistrates and 14 Executive Magistrates have been serving in the Dhaka-5 elections since October 15.

At the same time, the same number of Judicial Magistrates and Executive Magistrates will be performing their duties in Naogaon.

In order to hold the polls in a fair and peaceful environment, the EC has banned the movement of motorcycles, trucks and pickups for 24 hours from 12 am on October 17. Additional law enforcers were deployed in the area to avert any untoward incidents.

Earlier, the election commission declared the election schedule for the two constituencies on September 3.