Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged as the dominant force in the 13th national elections, securing 49.97 percent of the votes with their ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ symbol. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami followed as the second most successful party, capturing 31.76 percent of the votes with the ‘Scale’ symbol, as announced by Election Commission (EC) Secretariat Director (Public Relations) and Information Officer Md Ruhul Amin Mallick.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the elections saw participation from 50 political parties and 274 independent candidates. Other notable performances include the National Nagorik Party (NCP), which contested in 32 constituencies with the ‘Shapla Koli’ symbol, obtaining 3.05 percent of the votes. Islami Andolan Bangladesh ran in 257 seats with the Hatpakha (hand-fan) symbol, garnering 2.70 percent of the votes. Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis participated in 34 seats with the ‘Rickshaw’ symbol, securing 2.09 percent of the votes, while Jatiya Party contested in 199 constituencies with the ‘Plough’ symbol, achieving 0.89 percent of the votes. Additionally, independent candidates collectively secured 5.79 percent of the votes.
Senior Secretary of EC Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed outlined the official results, stating that BNP won 209 constituencies, while Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats. NCP won six seats, and independent candidates won seven seats. Voting occurred in 299 constituencies, but results for Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4 were withheld due to court orders. The results for the remaining 297 constituencies were officially announced and published in the gazette.
Furthermore, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis won two seats, Islami Andolan Bangladesh secured one seat, as did Gono Odhikar Parishad, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Gana Sanghati Andolan, and Khelafat Majlis. Independent candidates claimed victory in seven seats overall. The voter turnout was reported to be 59.44 percent, with the vote casting rate in the referendum standing at 60.26 percent.