Shahjahan Omar, a former BNP leader who joined ruling Awami League just before the election, has won in the Jhalakathi-1 constituency, bagging 95,478 votes with the boat symbol.
His nearest contestant – Abu Bakar Siddique of Jaker Party – received only 1,624 votes in the election, according to unofficial results of the 12th parliamentary election.
A Salek, assistant returning officer and district election officer of Jhalakathi, said a total of 113,015 people cast votes in 90 centers of the constituency on Sunday. Of them, 99,890 votes were valid.
Among the other candidates, independent candidate Abul Kashem Fakhrul Islam received 370 votes with truck symbol, M Moniruzzaman, who stepped down from the electoral race, got 625 votes with eagle symbol, Bangladesh Congress Party candidate Mojibur Rahman 142 votes with coconut symbol, Trinamool BNP candidate Jasim Uddin Talukder 282 votes with golden fiber symbol.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Party candidate Ejajul Haque received 1,272 votes.
Shahjahan Omar was the vice-chairman of BNP and serving jail in a sabotage case. In a dramatic move, he came out of jail just before the election, joined the ruling party, and got nominated for the Jhalakathi-1 constituency.