The Election Commission has set January 4 for the second attempt at the Gaibandha-5 parliamentary by-polls, which was suspended hours after voting started over numerous irregularities.
The voting will be held through electric voting machines from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm without a break. Like the previous by-polls, CCTV cameras will be installed at all voting centres and the election will be monitored by EC officials from Dhaka, the commission’s Secretary Jahangir Alam said after a meeting on the matter on Tuesday, according to bdnews24.com.
The commission has changed the by-election’s returning officer following the recommendation from the probe committee. Faridul Islam from the EC’s Dhaka region has been appointed as the by-polls' new returning officer, Alam added.
He also noted that the candidates vying in the by-polls will be able to run election campaigns from now on.
The Gaibandha-5 (Saghata-Fulchhari) constituency fell vacant following the death of Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah on Jul 23. Although the by-election was of a relatively small scale, the EC took all measures to ensure a fair electoral process.
Four hours after the voting began on Oct 12, the EC suspended the by-polls amid widespread accounts of irregularities.
This was the first parliamentary by-polls overseen by the Kazi Habibul Awal-led Election Commission. The commission had previously overseen about 800 local government polls, including for the Cumilla City Corporation.
The last time voting had been suspended in an entire constituency was in 2015, when the Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed-led Election Commission halted municipal council polls in Narsingdi’s Madhabadi.
Five candidates are in the race for the Gaibandha-5 seat in parliament.
Awami League candidate Mahmud Hasan was contending for the polls with the 'boat' symbol and Jatiya Party candidate AHM Golam Shahid with the 'plough' symbol. The other contestants were Bikalpa Dhara's Jahangir Alam and independent candidates Nahiduzzaman Apel and Syed Mahbubur Rahman.