Dhaka-18, Sirajganj-1 by-elections Thursday

By-elections to two parliamentary constituencies -- Dhaka-18 and Sirajganj-1 will be held on Thursday with participation of two major parties Awami League and BNP, reports UNB.

The voting will start with the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at 8:00am and continue uninterruptedly till 4:00pm.

Six contenders including AL nominated Md Habib Hasan, BNP nominated SM Jahangir, Jatiya Party’s Nasir Uddin Sarkar are in the election race in Dhaka-18.

Three other contenders are Gano Front’s Kazi Md Shahidullah, Bangladesh Congress’s Omar Faruk and PDP’s Mobibullah Bahar.

There are 577,773 voters under 215 polling stations in Dhaka-18 comprising the 14 wards and Airport area under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). The DNCC wards are 1, 17 and 43-54 located in Uttara and Cantonment and Gulshan police station.

In Sirajganj-1, two candidates -- AL’s Tanvir Shakil Joy and BNP’s Selim Reza -- are in the electoral race. There are 345,603 voters under 168 polling stations in the constituency comprised of Kazipur upazila and five unions of Sirajganj Sadar upazila.

The election commission has already imposed restriction on movement of vehicles particularly motorcycles, private cars, trucks and other motorised vehicles in the election areas.

On 28 September, the election commission announced the by-polls schedule for the two constituencies.

Sirajganj-1 constituency fell vacant after the death of former health minister and Awami League MP Mohammed Nasim on 13 June. Dhaka-18 constituency fell vacant following the death of former home minister and Awami League MP Sahara Khatun on 9 July.