Jashore district Awami League general secretary Shaheen Chaklader has won the by-election of Jashore-6, Keshabpur constituency, by a huge margin.
The voting was held on Tuesday in spontaneous attendance in compliance with hygiene rules. The results were announced unofficially at the end of the vote count at night.
According to the announced results, Awami League candidate Shaheen Chaklader was elected with 1,24,003 votes – his nearest rival BNP candidate Abul Hossain Azad got 2,012 votes with ‘paddy sheath’ symbol. However, Abul Hossain Azad was not in the field as the BNP boycotted the election centrally. Another candidate Habibur Rahman from Jatiya Party got 1,006 votes with ‘plow’ symbol. Keshabpur Upazila Election Officer Bazlur Rashid announced the results after counting the votes.
Out of the total 2,03,018 voters in Keshabpur constituency, 1,29,067 voters exercised their voting right. Of these, 1,374 votes have been canceled, said Bazlur Rashid, Election Officer of Keshabpur upazila. “63.57 percent of votes have been cast.”
During the polling in the morning, long lines of voters were seen in various centers. Voters cast their votes by washing their hands with hand sanitizer, wearing masks. The by-election in Jashore-6 Keshabpur constituency was held in a fair and peaceful atmosphere. No untoward incident was reported till 5:00 pm after the polling. Voters cast their ballots spontaneously in compliance with the hygiene rules as voting took place during the coronavirus period, said Humayun Kabir, election officer of Jashore district.
Shaheen Chaklader, the candidate for the Awami League’s ‘boat’ symbol, said that the voting has completed in a fair and peaceful environment. He also provided health safety equipment to each center besides EC.
It is worth to be mentioned that the seat became vacant on January 21 this year when MP and former State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadeq passed away. The Election Commission (EC) then issued a notification announcing the schedule of the by-elections. Although the date of the election was fixed for March 29, the EC postponed the election on March 22 due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
According to the schedule, Awami League’s ‘boat’ symbol candidate and district Awami League general secretary Shaheen Chaklader, BNP’s Abul Hossain Azad and Jatiya Party’s candidate Habibur Rahman submitted nomination papers on February 28. However, BNP boycotted the by-polls on July 5 as per the party decision.
