Awami League-backed candidate Mahmud Hasan Ripon unofficially won the by-election to Gaibandha-5, held peacefully today (January 04, 2023). 

Ripon won the election by defeating Jatiya Party-backed candidate AHM Golam Shaheed Ranju with a margin of 33,533 votes. 

The winning candidate bagged a total of 78,285 votes with the boat symbol while Ranju got 44,752 votes with the plough symbol. 

The other candidates of the by-election were Bikalpa Dhara candidate Advocate Jahangir Alam and independent candidate Syed Mahbubur Rahman.

Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-polls: Festive mood as voting underway

Voting started at 8 am and continued till 4:30 pm. No untoward incident was reported.

The election was monitored from Dhaka through a total of 1,242 CCTV cameras while it ended with only a 35 percent turnout.

The constituency consists of Saghata and Phulchhari upazilas.

On October 12 last year, the Election Commission (EC) suspended the by-election due to “rampant irregularities” on the election day and later the commission fixed January 4 for holding the polls.

Read more: Gaibandha-5 by-election held in a disciplined environment: CEC

Following the death of Gaibandha-5 lawmaker and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah on July 22, 2022, it became a constitutional obligation to hold election for the parliamentary seat by October 20, 2022. Accordingly it was scheduled for October 12.

A three-member committee was formed to look into the election irregularities on October 12 last year.

Following the recommendations of the committee, the Election Commission took punitive actions against 133 officials including an additional deputy commissioner, five sub-inspectors and returning officer of the election.

Read More: No irregularities reported yet in Gaibandha by-election: EC Rashida.