Bogura: The Election Commission (EC) has requested the Ministry of Public Administration to declare a general holiday in the Bogura-6 and Sherpur-3 parliamentary seats on the Election Day.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, a letter signed by EC Secretariat Deputy Secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain was sent to the Senior Secretary of the Ministry on Sunday. The letter outlines that voting for the vacant seats in Bogura-6 and Sherpur-3, under the 13th National Parliament, is scheduled for April 9. To facilitate voter participation, the EC has deemed a general holiday necessary for all government, semi-government, autonomous, and private offices and institutions within the election areas.
The EC has urged the authorities to take the essential steps to declare this holiday. In Bogura-6, Returning Officer Md. Fazlul Karim confirmed that three candidates are vying for the seat. These candidates include Md. Rezaul Karim Badsha of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) with the ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ symbol, Md. Abdur Rahman of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami with the ‘Scale’ symbol, and a candidate from the Bangladesh Development Party with the ‘Cauliflower’ symbol. He remarked that the overall election environment in the constituency remains satisfactory.
The by-election in Bogura-6 was necessitated after the February 12 parliamentary election in which BNP Chairperson and current Prime Minister Tarique Rahman won the seat. However, due to the legal stipulation preventing the holding of two parliamentary seats simultaneously, he chose to retain Dhaka-17, vacating Bogura-6 and leading to this by-election.
In Sherpur-3, Returning Officer Mohammad Jahangir Hossain reported that three candidates are competing. These include Md. Mahmudul Haque Rubel from BNP with the ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ symbol, Md. Masudur Rahman from Jamaat-e-Islami with the ‘Scale’ symbol, and a candidate from the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist) with the ‘Scissor’ symbol. The election in this constituency was previously postponed following the death of a Jamaat candidate during the February 12 polls, prompting the announcement of a fresh schedule.