Ashraful Hossen Alom, best known on social media as Hero Alom, is contesting the elections to Bogra-4 (Kahalu-Nandigram) and Bogra-6 (Bogra Sadar) and has said he is hopeful of winning both by huge margins if they are held in a fair manner.
Voting in the by-polls started at 8:30am on Wedneday. Alom, an independent candidate, cast his vote an hour later at the Erulia High School centre in his area.
“If the elections are fair, I hope to win in both constituencies by a large number of votes,” he said afterwards.
Returning Officer Saiful Islam, the deputy commissioner of Bogra, said polling was ongoing in the two constituencies in a peaceful environment. No untoward incident was reported till noon, he said.
Police and Ansar personnel were deployed to ensure the security of voters. Apart from this, 17 strike forces and ten BGB platoons are on the alert, he added.
“Judicial and executive magistrates are also working to make the polling fair,” said Saiful.
Candidates for Bogra-6 are Awami League-backed Ragebul Ahsan Ripu, JaPa-backed Japar Nurul Islam Omar, JaSad-backed Imdadul Haque Imdad, Abdul Mannan Akand, Sarkar Badal, Hero Alam (independent) and 11 others.
The total number of voters in this constituency is 410,743.
On the other hand, including Hero Alam, there are nine candidates in the Bogra-4 constituency.
The total number of voters in this constituency is 328,469.
Earlier on January 17, the High Court stayed a decision of the Election Commission cancelling Hero Alom's nomination for the by-polls to the Bogra-4 and Bogra-6 as an independent candidate.
Hero Alom filed the appeal to the High Court (HC) after the Election Commission (EC) rejected his appeal against the cancellation of his nomination papers.
The Election Commission announced the cancellation of Hero Alom's nomination papers on January 15.
Earlier on January 12, the Election Commission held a hearing on Hero Alom's appeal. He appeared before the Election Commission and participated in the hearing.
Hero Alom contested the 11th national election from Bogra-4 as an independent candidate. He got 638 votes.
