The by-election to Faridpur-2 constituency began at 8am on Saturday and will continue till 4pm.
However, very few voters were seen till 10:30am.
The parliamentary seat was declared vacant on September 11 after the death of the lawmaker from the constituency, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury. The Election Commission announced the schedule for the by-polls on September 26.
Two candidates competing in the election are Awami League-nominated Shahdab Akbar Chowdhury, the youngest son of Sajeda, and Bangladesh Khelafat Movement-backed Md Zainul Abedin alias Bakul Miah.
The Election Commission is monitoring the polling through CCTV cameras from Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka. There are 1,052 cameras for monitoring everything.
Kazi Nazrul Islam, the presiding officer in charge of the Aminuddin Government Primary School centre, said: “There are 2,086 male voters and 1,996 female voters. So far not even 100 votes have been cast.”
But he hoped voter attendance would increase as the day progressed.
Mahabul Karim, a police officer stationed at the centre, said: “The polling is going on in a fair and peaceful manner.”
Faridpur Deputy Commissioner Atul Sarkar and Superintendent of Police Md Shahjahan visited the polling station around 9:30am. After the inspection, the deputy commissioner said: “All kinds of steps have been taken to make the election free, fair and impartial.”
