The High Court has directed the Election Commission to take custody of ballot papers, result sheets and other election materials from five additional constituencies amid allegations of rigging in the 13th National Parliament elections. The constituencies affected are Dhaka-13, Dhaka-5, Gaibandha-5, Pabna-3 and Kushtia-4.
The order was issued on Wednesday by a single bench of Justice Zakir Hossain after accepting the election rigging cases for hearing. The petitions were filed by Maulana Mamunul Haque, Amir of Khilafat Majlis in Dhaka-13; BNP candidate Nabi Ullah Nabi in Dhaka-5; BNP candidate Faruk Alam Sarkar in Gaibandha-5; BNP candidate Hasan Zafir Tuhin in Pabna-3; and BNP candidate Syed Mehedi Ahmed Rumi in Kushtia-4.
In Dhaka-13, BNP-backed Bobby Hajjaj, contesting with the symbol of a sheaf of rice, was declared the winner with 88,387 votes, narrowly defeating Maulana Mamunul Haque, who secured 86,067 votes. In Dhaka-5, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Mohammad Kamal Hossain won with 96,641 votes, while his closest rival, BNP nominee Md. Nabi Ullah, received 87,491 votes.
Gaibandha-5 saw victory for Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's Abdul Wares, who obtained 89,274 votes against BNP candidate Faruk Alam Sarkar's 73,483 votes. In Kushtia-4, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md. Afzal Hossain won under the scale symbol with 148,201 votes, while BNP's Syed Mehedi Ahmed Rumi secured 139,603 votes with the paddy sheaf symbol. Pabna-3 was won by Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Muhammad Ali Asgar with 147,475 votes, with BNP candidate Hasan Zafir Tuhin receiving 144,206 votes and subsequently filing a High Court petition challenging the result.
