Jamaat candidate Delawar Hossain casts vote in Thakurgaon-1 by-election, questions officer ID card

Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Delawar Hossain has cast his vote in the by-election to the Thakurgaon-1 (Sadar, Ruhia and Bhulli) seat of the 13th National Parliament. He voted at around 8:30am on Thursday (29 October) at the Hajipara Adarsha High School centre in Thakurgaon town.

Before entering and after leaving the polling centre, Delawar Hossain exchanged greetings with ordinary voters present there.

Speaking about the election environment after voting, the Jamaat candidate said: "My appeal to the voters is — come to the polling centres and vote. Voting has only just begun, so there is nothing to say about the current situation yet. Once some more time passes, it will be possible to speak about the situation."

He further said: "At the centre where I voted, I came and saw that the presiding officer's card carries no photograph. How are we to know whether he is that person or someone else? A proxy could be used here. I request the returning officer to look into the matter."

Delawar Hossain added: "Since the entire election is being held under a party government, whether it will be fair depends on the government, on those in charge of the election, and on the administration."

Thakurgaon district election officer and returning officer Md Kamrul Islam said all preparations had been made to hold a free, fair and neutral election. Adequate members of the law enforcement agencies have been deployed at every centre, and striking forces and reserve forces have also been kept ready.

According to the election office, there are 185 polling centres across the three upazilas of the Thakurgaon-1 constituency: 113 in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila, 33 in the newly formed Ruhia upazila and 39 in Bhulli upazila.

The constituency has a total of 515,853 voters — 257,219 men, 258,630 women and four voters of the third gender. In addition, 287 voters have registered to vote by postal ballot, of whom 249 are men and 38 are women.

After scrutiny of nomination papers ended on 29 September, six candidates were declared valid for the Thakurgaon-1 by-election: BNP's Mirza Faisal Amin and Md Obaidullah Masud, Jamaat-e-Islami and allied parties' candidate Delawar Hossain, Hafez Dr Md Khademul Islam, Md Abdul Alim Nizami and Husain Muhammad Omar Faruk.

However, on 5 October BNP district vice-president Md Obaidullah Masud withdrew his candidacy on the party's decision, leaving five candidates in the final contest. Among them, BNP's Mirza Faisal Amin and Jamaat-e-Islami and allied parties' candidate Delawar Hossain are the leading contenders.

In the presidential election on 20 August, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir defeated the 11-party alliance candidate, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chairman retired Colonel Oli Ahmad, by 255 votes to become President. The Thakurgaon-1 seat fell vacant after his election as President, prompting this by-election.

In the 13th National Parliament election held on 12 February this year, the seat was won by former BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir with 228,075 votes. His nearest rival, Jamaat candidate Delawar Hossain, received 132,584 votes, while Islami Andolan Bangladesh candidate Md Khademul Islam received 3,833 votes.