Voting has begun in the by-elections for the Sherpur-3 and Bogra-6 constituencies of the 13th National Parliament.
Polling started at 7:30am on Thursday and will continue until 4:30pm.
In Sherpur-3, the candidates in the race are Mahmudul Haque Rubel of BNP (sheaf of paddy symbol), Masudur Rahman of Jamaat (scales symbol), and Mizanur Rahman of BASAD (Marxist) (scissors symbol).
The election in Sherpur-3 was initially postponed and later cancelled after Jamaat-e-Islami-nominated candidate Muhammad Nuruzzaman Badal died on February 3. The Election Commission later announced a fresh schedule, setting April 9 as the polling date. The constituency comprises 17 unions and one municipality, with a total of 413,377 voters. There are 128 polling centres and 721 booths.
According to the district returning officer’s office, all agencies are working in coordination to ensure a free, fair, and neutral election, as per the Election Commission’s directives. Security measures include 14 executive magistrates, an army striking force, 16 platoons of BGB, 14 RAB teams, 26 mobile teams, along with 1,150 police members and 1,704 Ansar personnel.
In Bogra-6, BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman won the seat by a landslide in the February 12 national election, while also securing Dhaka-17. He later vacated Bogra-6, prompting the by-election.
The constituency consists of 11 unions of Bogra Sadar upazila and 21 wards of a municipality. In the by-election, BNP’s Rezaul Karim is contesting with the sheaf of paddy symbol, Jamaat’s Abidur Rahman (Sohel) with the scales symbol, and Bangladesh Development Party’s Al Amin Talukdar with the cauliflower symbol.
Rezaul Karim is the president of Bogra district BNP and a former mayor of Bogura municipality. Jamaat candidate Abidur Rahman had also contested in this constituency in the 13th national election.
In the February 12 general election, voting was held in 299 seats alongside a referendum.
Since the “Yes” vote had already won in the referendum, no referendum is being held in these two constituencies.
