Sayeed contested as an independent candidate with ‘lock and key’ symbol in the Pabna-1 constituency of the parliamentary elections held without major opposition BNP.
Tuku bagged 67,029 votes with his ‘boat’ symbol while Sayeed secured 44,579.
The number of voters was 331,874. Of them 116,042 exercised their franchise in 118 polling centres.
Some 2,680 ballots have been rejected, according to the Election Commisson.
Sayeed became an information and research secretary of Awami League’s central committee after he won 1996 elections in this constituency defeating Jamaat-e-Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami.
But he lost the post after the 2007 emergency rule as he was one of the ‘reformists’ who tried to outmanoevre party chief Sheikh Hasina.
Tuku obtained the nominations and won the Dec 2008 elections defeating Nizami.
Then he was given State Minister portfolio first at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and then home.
He also found his way into the small, poll-time multi-party cabinet as Junior Minister for Home Affairs.
However, Sayeed before the voting alleged that Tuku had been exerting his influence in the elections.
Meanwhile, Awami League’s Makbul Hossain has been unofficially declared elected in the Pabna-3 constituency.
He obtained 100,406 votes while his nearest rival independent candidate Abul Kalam Azad got 12,673.
