BNP-nominated candidate Mahmudul Haque Rubel, contesting with the ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ symbol, has been declared the winner of the Sherpur-3 (Sreebardi–Jhenaigati) by-election.
The result was officially announced at around 8:30 pm on Thursday by District Election Officer and Returning Officer Mohammad Jahangir Hossain.
According to the final results from all 128 polling centers, Rubel secured 166,117 votes. His closest rival, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Alhaj Masudur Rahman Masud, who contested with the ‘Scale’ symbol, received 47,051 votes.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BASAD) candidate Mizanur Rahman, running with the ‘Scissors” symbol, obtained 480 votes.
Voting in the constituency began at 7:30 am and continued without interruption until 4:30 pm. Although the National Parliamentary Election was held nationwide on February 12, polling in this constituency was postponed following the death of a candidate.
Returning Officer Jahangir Hossain stated that the election was conducted in a free and fair manner.
However, he acknowledged that isolated incidents of ballot fraud were reported in some areas. Individuals involved in these incidents were detained and handed over to police.
In a press conference held at 3:00 PM, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate announced his decision to boycott the by-election, citing alleged irregularities. He accused agents of the Scale symbol candidate of being removed from polling centers and reported incidents of ballot tampering and publicly sealing ballot boxes. Despite informing the presiding officer and the police, he claimed no action was taken to address the issues.
The voter turnout in the Sherpur-3 constituency was recorded at 50.52 percent.