The Election Commission today withheld the by-elections to Gaibandha-5 constituency due to “malpractice”.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier, the Election Commission suspended voting at 51 polling centres over irregularities.
Meanwhile, four candidates, including Jatiya Party (JP), have boycotted the Gaibandha-5 by-polls alleging vote rigging through electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voters being thrown out of the centres.

They announced their withdrawal from the election in a joint press conference today (12 October).

The four boycotting candidates are – HM Golam Shaheed Ranju from Jatiya Party, Jahangir Alam, independent candidate Nahiduzzaman Nishad and Mahbubur Rahman.

The voting in the election began on Tuesday morning using electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Voting has started at 8:00 am, which was supposed to continue until 4:00 pm at 145 polling stations in Fulchhari and Saghata Upazilas. The constituency has 339,434 voters from 17 unions.

The Gaibandha-5 constituency fell vacant on July 23 following the death of deputy speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah.