The 12th National Election featured the most number of celebrity candidates competing in several constituencies across the country. Although a few of them won with ease, several popular candidates lost the competition for their respective seats.
Candidates including eminent thespian and multiple-time elected Asaduzzaman Noor, debutant superstar candidate Ferdous Ahmed, viral social media influencer Barrister Sayedul Haque Sumon and Star Cineplex Chairman Mahboob Rahman Ruhel emerged victorious in the election.
However, the other popular stars from the cultural arena including folk singer Momotaz Begom, Dhallywood actress Mahiya Mahi, popular singer Doli Sayantoni, magazine show ‘Ittyadi’-famed popular singer-musician Nakul Kumar Biswas and viral social media personality Ashraful Hossen Alom, better known as Hero Alom, failed to win the election in their constituencies.
Even though most of these candidates contested the election from other political parties, the result of Manikganj-2 surprised many as Momotaz lost in this seat. She was elected from the Manikganj-2 seat twice, but could not secure her hattrick victory.
Defeating the folk queen, independent candidate Zahid Ahmed Tulu has been elected in this seat, receiving a total of 84,525 votes. Momotaz got 78 thousand 269 votes, losing her seat in a close fight.
On the other hand, despite her massive campaigning throughout the campaign period, actress Mahiya Mahi lost the election. The independent candidate with the truck symbol lost the battle for the Rajshahi-1 seat and received 9 thousand 9 votes, while Omar Farooq Chowdhury, the Awami League candidate with the boat symbol, received 1 million 3 thousand 592 votes, defeating Mahi by a gigantic margin.
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Popular singer Doli Sayantoni and social media celebrity Ashraful Alom (Hero Alom) declared their intention to abstain from the election prior to the declaration of the results, citing irregularities. Boat candidate Ahmed Feroz Kabir won the Pabna-2 constituency against Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) candidate Doli by getting 1,65,842 votes, while the singer received only 4,382 votes with the anchor symbol.
Hero Alom was contesting the election as a candidate for the Bangladesh Congress with the coconut symbol in the Bogura-4 constituency. He received only 2,175 votes, while AKM Rezaul Karim Tansen of Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) received 42 thousand 757 votes in the boat symbol in the overall results from 114 polling stations. His closest competitor, Ziaul Haque Molla, received 40 thousand 618 votes with the eagle symbol.
Although singer-musician Nakul Kumar Biswas ran a competitive election campaign to win the Barishal-2 constituency as a debutant candidate, veteran politician and Bangladesh Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon emerged victorious, garnering 1,24,573 votes in total with the boat symbol. With an Eagle emblem, his opponent and Sher-E-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque’s grandson AK Faizul Haque Raju, received 32,191 votes.
Among the winners, both Ferdous Ahmed and Asaduzzaman Noor won in their respective seats as the direct candidates from Bangladesh Awami League, defeating their opponents by huge margins. Ferdous emerged victorious with 65,898 votes with the boat symbol, while his closest competitor, Shamsul Alam, with the mango symbol from the National People's Party, received only 2,257 votes.
Former Cultural Affairs Minister and ‘Baker Bhai’-famed eminent thespian Asaduzzaman Noor got 1,19,339 votes in the Nilphamari-2 constituency, winning the national election for the fifth time. His nearest rival Zainal Abedin got 15 684 votes with the truck symbol.
Popular social media influencer Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman won the Habiganj-4 (Madhabpur-Chunarughat) constituency by a wide margin, garnering over 198,000 votes with the eagle emblem. Boat contender and State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Advocate Mahbub Ali received 47,000 votes, suffering a gigantic defeat to the celebrity candidate.
Bangladesh Awami League-nominated candidate Mahboob Rahman Ruhel, also known as the Chairman of popular multiplex chain Star Cineplex, has won his debut election in Chittagong-1 (Mirsharai) seat. He received a total of 89,064 votes, while his closest rival independent candidate Mohammad Giyas Uddin got 52,995 votes with the eagle symbol.
With all these results, the star-studded 12th National Parliament Election came to its closure, while the netizens are eyeing the upcoming scenario of the country.
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