BNP candidate wins in Sherpur-3 by-election

BNP candidate Mahmudul Haque Rubel has won the by-election to the Sherpur-3 constituency, announced Returning Officer Md Jahangir Hossain on Thursday night.

The vote casting took place in a proper and stable atmosphere, said Jahangir Hossain. There were some incidents of fraud voting, but the perpetrators were caught promptly and handed over to the police, the election official added.

Mahmudul has got 1,66,07 votes in the total 128 polling centres. His nearest rival, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Masudur Rahman has bagged 47,051 votes, trailing by 1,18,966 votes.

Earlier, the returning officer’s office said voter turnout throughout the day was 50.52%.

Around 3:15pm, Masudur announced his withdrawal from the election alleging intimidation of his agents and violent attacks by ruling party activists. Ruling party activists also engaged in fraud vote casting amid lukewarm response from law enforcers, Masudur alleged at a press conference.