AL’s Shafiul wins Dhaka-10 by-polls

Ruling Awami League candidate Md Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin) won Saturday’s Dhaka-10 by-polls which saw a 5.28 percent turnout.

Shafiul secured 15,955 votes, which was enough to beat his nearest rival BNP candidate Sheikh Robiul Alam who bagged only 817 votes.

Out of 3,21,275 voters, only 16,985 votes exercised their franchise. But no vote was declared invalid.

The by-polls was held from 9am to 5pm on Saturday with the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in all 117 polling stations of Dhaka-10 constituency that comprises wards 14-18 and 22 of Dhaka South City Corporation (Dhanmondi and Lalbagh).

Returning Officer GM Shahatab Uddin declared Shafiul unofficially elected in the evening.

Among the four other contestants, Jatiya Party’s Hazi Md Shahjahan got 97 votes, while PDP’s Abdur Rahim pocketed 63 votes, Bangladesh Congress’s Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury secured 18 and Bangladesh Muslim League’s Nabab Khawza Ali Hasan Askari got 15 votes.

The Dhaka-10 fell vacant as AL MP Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh resigned on December 29 to contest the Dhaka South City Corporation election.

The Election Commission on February 6 announced the by-election schedules for Dhaka-10 and two other parliamentary constituencies -- Gaibandha-3 and Bagerhat-4.