Naogaon-2 election: Voting underway amid tight security

Voting in the Naogaon-2 constituency (Patnitala and Dhamoirhat upazilas), which was postponed following the death of independent candidate Aminul Haque, commenced this morning under stringent security measures.

The balloting began at 8am and will continue till 4pm without any break.

The Election Commission suspended the election due to the death of the independent candidate on 29 December, eight days ahead of the 12th national election held on 7 January this year.

Visiting several polling stations, the UNB correspondent found a huge presence of voters.

Abdullah Al Mamun, presiding officer of Puiya Government Primary School centre, said they have taken all preparations to hold the polls in a fair and peaceful environment.

With the cooperation of the members of the law enforcement agencies, they will be able to hold the polls in a fair and peaceful environment, he hoped.

Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Golam Mowla said all security measures have been taken so that the election can be held in a free, fair, and neutral manner.

There are 16 police and Ansar members in important centers each and 15 members in other centers each, he said, adding that on average there is one police mobile team for every four centers along with a striking team and reserve team.

Executive Magistrates and Judicial Magistrates are performing duty along with patrolling by members of the Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh, he said.

A total of four candidates including one from the ruling Awami League and one from Jatiya Party are contesting the polls.

Awami League-backed candidate former lawmaker Shahiduzzaman Sarkar is contesting with the boat symbol while independent candidates Engineer Aktarul Alam with truck symbol and Mehedi Mahmud Reza with eagle symbol and Tofazzal Hossain with Jaitya Party's electoral symbol plough.

Locals think that the main fight will be between the boat candidate and the truck symbol candidate involved in Awami League politics.

A total of 3,56,132 voters are supposed to cast their votes in the elections being held in two upazilas.

Of them, there are 177,572 male voters and 1,78,159 female voters.