BNP candidate Rezaul Karim Badsha clinched victory in the Bogura-6 by-polls held yesterday, while Mahmudul Haque Rubel, also the ruling party candidate, won the Sherpur-3 election.
The by-polls saw 42.57 percent turnout, and the Sherpur-3 election recorded 52.19 percent turnout, according to returning officers.
The voter turnout figures did not include postal ballots.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami raised the allegations of irregularities in both the polls and boycotted the Sherpur-3 election.
The 13th national election was held on February 12 in 299 constituencies. With the two victories, BNP lawmakers in parliament rose to 210.
BNP also won Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4 seats, but the gazette is yet to be published as the High Court issued directives to withhold the results following writ petitions.
Prime Minister and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman gained Dhaka-17 and Bogura-6 (Bogura Sadar) and later vacated Bogura-6, prompting the Election Commission to hold the by-election in the seat.
The Sherpur-3 (Jhenaigati-Sreebordi) election was cancelled eight days before the national polls following the death of Jamaat candidate.
Voting in the two seats began from 7:30am and continued until 4:30pm yesterday. A total of 1,93,326 out of 454,043 voters cast ballots at 150 polling centres in Bogura-6, according to Returning Officer Fazlul Karim.
BNP nominee Rezaul, Bogura BNP president and former municipality mayor, got 133,931 votes, while his rival Jamaat candidate Abidur Rahman obtained 57,159 votes and Bangladesh Development Party contender Al-Amin 526 votes.
In Sherpur-3, a total of 2,15,734 out of 4,13,377 voters exercised their franchise in 128 polling centres.
BNP candidate Mahmudul got 1,66,117 votes, while Jamaat nominee Masudur Rahman obtained 47,051 votes, and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist) candidate Mizanur Rahman 480 votes, according to Returning Officer Jahangir Hossain.
At a press conference in Dhaka’s Moghbazar in the afternoon, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar alleged that at some polling centres, presiding officers took signatures from agents on result sheets even before voting began.
He also urged the chief election commissioner to intervene immediately to stop such irregularities.
Later, Jamaat candidate Masudur in Sherpur‑3 announced his boycott, alleging that polling agents were forced out of centres and incidents of ballot stuffing took place.
In the morning, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said the Bogura‑6 by‑polls and Sherpur‑3 election were being held peacefully.
He told reporters after visiting the law-and-order coordination cell at the EC Headquarters in Agargaon.
The CEC said, “We monitored both elections from 7:30am. The deputy commissioners reported that the situation was normal.”
Just 15 minutes after voting ended in both seats, the EC said it would look into allegations of irregularities raised by Jamaat.
EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said the commission would examine these complaints. “Of course, we will look into it. I have already asked for reports from my respected officers.”
Asked about Jamaat’s boycott of the Sherpur‑3 polls, he said, “Jamaat has boycotted, so ask them. We arranged the election; we did not tell anyone to boycott.”
