Rebel candidate beats AL presidium member

An independent candidate has won Faridpur-4, beating Awami League presidium member Kazi Zafarullah in Sunday's national elections.

The constituency recorded a 53.67% turnout, much better than most.

Mojibor Rahman Chowdhury alias Nixon Chowdhury, who emerged victor, happens to be a relative of Awami League president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina’s father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s elder sister Fatima Begum is the paternal grandmother of Nixon.

Nixon got 98,300 votes using his election symbol ‘pineapple’ while his nearest rival Zafarullah, who was the sitting MP from this seat, got 72,248 votes in the Opposition-boycotted polls.

172,714 voters out of the total listed 321,791 exercised the franchise in the constituency on Sunday. 1,607 votes were cancelled.

Nixon has been grilled by the Anti-Corruption Commission on alleged graft over the proposed Padma Bridge project.

During a public meeting in the constituency, Prime Minister Hasina had said those involved in the alleged graft were not her relatives.

That was seen as an attempt to distance herself and the party from a controversial figure like Nixon.

“If brothers and sisters (Bangabandhu and Fatima Begum) are relatives, then so are we,” was Nixon's reaction to Hasina's statement..

He, however, has denied accusations of being involved in the Padma bridge graft.

Nixon’s brother Nur-e-Alam Chowdhury has recently been elected uncontested from Shibchar in Madaripur in the elections.