Voting for N\\\'ganj-5 underway

Voting for the by-election to Narayanganj-5 (city-port) constituency is going on peacefully today (Thursday). The parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of Jatiya Party MP Nasim Osman on April 29. The polling began at 8:00am and will continue till 4:00pm without any break. However, the voter turnout was low in the morning. Locals said the number of voters might increase as the day progressed. According to local sources, there was no incident of violence over the election in the first hours of balloting. Four candidates are in the polls race, but two of them are considered to be frontrunners who are Jatiya Party-backed AKM Selim Osman (brother of Nasim Osman) with ‘plough’ as election symbol and independent candidate former MP and Nagorik Oikya adviser SM Akram with ‘pineapple’. The two others are Krishak Sramik Janata League candidate Shafiqul Islam Delwar with ‘kerchief’ as election symbol and independent candidate Mamun Sirajul Majid with ‘shrimp’. A total of 3,42,405 voters—1,74,311 males and 1,68,094 females– are eligible to exercise their franchise at 674 booths in 141 polling stations in the by-polls. A team of eighteen security men including four armed police members will guard each normal polling station, while a nineteen-member team of security men with five armed police members will provide security to each vulnerable polling station. According to reports of intelligence agencies, 98 out of 141 polling stations are considered vulnerable in the constituency comprising Narayanganj thana and Bandar thana. Returning officer of the by-polls Mihir Sarwar Morshed on Thursday said the Election Commission completed all necessary preparations for the by-polls and was ready to arrange a fair election, according to AFP.