& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Battle for Mirpur JS seat today

By Staff Correspondent
The by-election to the Dhaka-11 JS constituency covering the entire Mirpur thana and Harirampur union of Utthra thana that fell vacant following the death of BNP MP llaroonur Rashid Mollah late last year will be held today.
The by-election battle, according to observers, would mainly- take place between the BNP candidate Syed Mohammad Mohsin and Kamal Ahmed Majumder of the main opposition party, the Awami League. Fifteen other candidates arc also in the fray.
Voting is scheduled to begin at 7 am and continue until 3 pm without any intermission.
A total of 2.76,864 .voters Including 1,56,791 females are expected to exercise their right of franchise in electing their representative to Parliament. «
The Election Commission has completed all necessary measures to ensure a free, fair
and peaceful balloting.
Adequate numbers of police, ansars and paramilitary BDR will be deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
The army would stay on full alert to tackle any law and order situation if necessary, sources said.
The EC has also increased polling centres from 84 to 117 at 70 educational institutions in the constituency. Five hundred and sixteen polling booths have been set up at 117 centres.
Pen vigilance squads of the EC would keep constant watch on the overall situation during voting. Besides, eight mobile courts, led by the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate, would try election offenders on the spot.
The entire constituency has been divided into four zones with an Additional District Magistrate to oversee the law and order situation in each
zone.
Every zone has been split into 12 sub-zones with a First Class Magistrate in charge of each. •
A total of 1686 government officials including senior assistant secretaries would conduct the polling.
The by-elcctlon in Mlrpur has meantime drawn particular attention of, all concerned as the two leading parties— BNP and AL— have put in their maximum efforts to win it. For the BNP. retaining the constituency has become a matter of prestige while the AL is trying its best to ccrntjnue its success after winning In the past three consecutive by-polls.
Meanwhile, the Fifth Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) has set a record in the holding of byelections.
By-elcctlon in the vacant JS Dhaka-11 (Mlrpur) seat today would put the total of such polls at 16.
By-polls in the current parliament were held to IO seats— four vacated by the BNP chief Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and four by Jatlya Party Chairman HM Ershad, one each by Awami League leader Tofael Ahmed and Abdur Razzak elected from the now defunct BKSAL.
The death of AL MP Elias Ahmed Chowdhury left the Madaripur-1 constituency vacant which was won by the AL.
The first Speaker of the Fifth Parliament Abdur Rahman Biswas becoming the President of the republic rendered the Bakerganj-5 seal vacant which the BNP retained.
Later, the consecutive deaths of three AL MPs rendered the JS seats in Rajban-I. Mymenstngh-3 and Bhola-4 vacant. All the scats were won back by AL candidates
Today's by-election to the Dhaka 11 constituency, would be the 16th of its kind.
In the last 15 by polls under the present Parliament,
the ruling BNP candidates were elected In six while the main opposition party, the AL In five and the JP In four.
In the parliamentary history of the country, no by-election was held to the first JS. The second parliament witnessed four while the- Third and the Fourth saw one by-election each.
The BNP candidate in today's by-election in Mirpur Syed Mohammad Mohsin has gained the support of those who know his father. SA Khalcq. who claims to have quit the Jatlya Party.
Talking to The Dally Star the candidate himself said that he was hopeful about winning the by-election mainly because of his father's influence