AL’s candidate wins Brahmanbaria-2 by-polls after 50 years

Awami League candidate Shahjahan Alam Saju won Sunday’s by-election to Brahmanbari-2 constituency (Sarail-Ashuganj), securing victory for his party for the first time since 1973.

Saju bagged 66,314 votes, while his nearest rival, independent candidate and two-time MP Ziaul Huque Mridha, received 37,758 votes.

Voting started at 8:00am at 132 centres and continued till 4:00pm.

The constituency has 4,10,072 votes and the voting took place through ballot papers. The voters’ turnout was 27.13%.

Mridha alleged rigging in the election, telling reporters in the afternoon that there had been irregularities at seven polling stations.

A total of five candidates contested the Brahmanbaria-2 by-election.

The Election Commission declared the seat vacant on October 4 after local parliamentarian and BNP candidate Advocate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan died on September 30.