Awami League candidate Rejwan Ahmed Towfiq is set to win the by-election to Kishoreganj 4 constituency held on Wednesday as he was way ahead of his contestant after results of 116 out of 118 polling centres were announced.
In 116 centres, Rejwan, also the son of the President Abdul Hamid, bagged 98,026 votes whereas party’s rebel candidate Syed Mohitul Islam Asim secured 58,943 votes. The office of district’s returning officer announced results of 116 centres formally by 10pm.
Earlier, voters started casting votes to elect their representative for Parliament at 8am which ended at 4pm. The constituency comprises Itna, Mithamoin and Austagram upazilas.
While talking to the Dhaka Tribune over phone, independent candidate Asim alleged that his agents were driven out from the polling centres.
Returning Officer Md Zahid Hossain, however, said the election was held peacefully. “We did not find any justification of the allegation of driving the agents out of polling centres,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
The constituency fell vacant as Abdul Hamid was elected President of the country on April 22.
Rejwan contested the polls with the symbol of Awami League – boat, while Asim competed as an independent candidate with football symbol to get the support of 277,118 voters in the constituency.
Some 6,000 members of different law enforcement agencies – police, Rab and Ansar – were deployed in the polling areas. Five executive magistrates were also working round the clock in line with the election officials.
The local election office had identified 104 polling centres as vulnerable.