Sattar retains Brahmanbaria-2, Hero Alom loses by 834 votes in Bogura

Alom bags 19,571 votes in Bogura-4 bypolls as an independent candidate

Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan, who resigned from parliament and the BNP, has been re-elected from the Brahmanbaria-2 in the by-election to the parliamentary constituency comprising Sarail and Ashuganj. 

In Bogura-4 consisting of Kahalu and Nandigram, social media star Ashraful Hossen Alom aka Hero Alom lost by a slim margin of 834 votes. 

The balloting through electronic voting machines was held on Wednesday amid a low turnout. The returning officers announced the results later at night. 

AL BACKING FOR SATTAR 

The Brahmanbaria and Bogura constituencies were up for grabs in the bypolls after Sattar and five other BNP MPs resigned as part of the party’s movement to topple the Awami League government and hold a general election with a caretaker administration in power. 

Sattar later quit the party, saying: “I’ve come to realise it doesn’t need me anymore. As I’m growing old, I’ve left with honour before any [misunderstanding]”. 

In a turn of events, he decided to run for re-election. 

The BNP urged voters not to go to the polls and cast their ballots, but the ruling Awami League fielded no candidate in Brahmanbaria and threw its weight behind Sattar. 

In the run-up to the by-election to the seat, candidate Abu Asif Ahmed was reported missing.

Amid growing speculation about his whereabouts, Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman said Asif, a former president of Ashuganj Upazila BNP,  may have voluntarily gone into hiding. 

Asif’s wife Meherunnisa suggested that police may have "done something to him". 

The Election Commission refuted her claims, saying it had found no involvement of any law-enforcing agency in Asif's disappearance. 

Sattar was a technocrat state minister for law, land, fisheries and power during the BNP government in 2001. 

He was elected MP from Brahmanbaria-1 in 1979 during BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s tenure after his failure to secure a party ticket. He was the founding vice-chairman of the party’s Brahmanbaria unit at that time. 

A lawyer by profession, Sattar won the parliamentary polls in 1991 and the Feb 15 election of 1996 with the party’s nomination. 

The 84-year-old had worked as chairman of Brahmanbaria BNP for 28 years. 

HERO ALOM LOSES BY A NARROW MARGIN 

Alom got 19,571 votes in Bogura-4 bypolls as an independent candidate while winner AKM Rezaul Karim of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JaSaD bagged 20,405 votes, 

Alom also joined the race for Bogura-6 constituency and said during the voting that he hoped to win both in fair elections. 

He toured polling centres in both constituencies and alleged one of his polling agents had been removed from one centre. “I called the election officials. Many of them did not pick up. But I was able to eventually reach them and register my complaint.” 

He expressed concerns about disruptions to the vote in the Bogura-6 seat, but said, “We did not notice anything amiss in the Bogura-4 seat.” 

Alom had previously run for the Bogura-4 parliamentary seat in 2018 and lost. 

Alom was removed from the list of candidates this time due to election officials’ perceived issues with his application. The High Court later reinstated the social media star’s candidacy in both seats.