BNP candidate Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan has been elected in Brahmanbaria-2 following yesterday's re-polling in three centres of the constituency.

Sattar bagged 1,274 votes yesterday and won with a total of 83,997 votes.

His closest rival Moyeen Uddin, an independent, bagged a total of 75,419.

Sattar had already been leading the polls with 82,723 votes, said Election Commission officials.

The number of constituents under the centres was 10,572. Only 4,300 voted yesterday, said Returning Officer Hayat-Ud-Dwollah Khan as he announced the unofficial result.

There were a total 132 polling centres in Brahmanbaria-2.

Voting was suspended in three centres during the December 30 election due to violence. The centres are Jatrapur Government Primary School, Bahadurpur Government Primary School and Sohagpur Dakkhin Government Primary School.

Including this, eight lawmakers have been elected from the BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront. The Awami League-led alliance won 288 seats.

A group of foreign and local election observers, who monitored the December 30 parliamentary election, has termed the election free, fair, peaceful and on a par with major democratic countries in the world.

The foreign observers from Canada, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, who came to Bangladesh at the invitation of  Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) and SAARC Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), also said the just concluded election was “much better” than past elections in Bangladesh and could be a “glowing example for other democratic countries”.

The foreign observers were speaking at a press conference held at Jatiya Press Club yesterday to share what they have seen during their daylong visit to nine polling centres in the capital on Sunday.

“This was a world standard election…We can compare this with the elections of major democratic countries,” said former president of Kolkata Press Club, Kamal Bhattacharya.

The senior journalist told Bangladeshi media that he had covered two past elections in Bangladesh as a reporter, and this time he came as an observer.

“I talked to a number of voters standing in queues and inside polling centres and no one told me they faced any threat, harassment or intimidation,” he said.

He said voters had trust and confidence in the Election Commission and authorities concerned that they would follow the best practices in the election; the arrangements helped voters to cast their votes smoothly and with safety.

Another observer from Nepal, Advocate Mohamadin Ali, said Bangladesh has set the best example of a high standard election.

Former minister and member of Nepal Communist Party, Hakikullah Musalman, said he was immensely impressed to see such a peaceful, disciplined and orderly election in Bangladesh.

Speaking at the press conference, Prof Mohammed Abed Ali, executive director of Election Monitoring Forum, informed that the forum is an association of 31 organisations and 26 NGOs registered under the Election Commission.

He said they deployed 5,765 observers in 214 constituencies out of 299, who visited 17,165 centres. Abed Ali said it was a peaceful election and it was far better than previous ones.

Director General of External Publicity Wing of the Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Sarwar Mahmood; Canadian observers Tania Dawn Foster and Chally Foster; Nepalese Communist Party member and former MP Nazir Mia; lawyer of Kolkata Judge Court Gautom Ghosh; writer and researcher from Sri Lanka Mohammed Ehsan Iqbal; and SAARC Human Rights Foundation's director Masum Chowdhury were also present at the press conference.

The High Court will deliver its order today on a writ petition that challenged the legality of oath-taking of lawmakers elected in the December 30 national election.

Advocate Md Taherul Islam Tawhid filed the petition on January 14, praying to the HC to issue a rule asking the Election Commission and the government to explain why the oath taking should not be declared illegal.

The lawyer also sought necessary HC orders on the authorities concerned to block the new lawmakers from discharging their functions.

The HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal fixed the date after holding a hearing  yesterday.

During the hearing, Taherul's lawyer Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon argued that the oath-taking violated articles 123(3) and 148(3) of the constitution of Bangladesh.

According to article 123(3)(a), parliamentary election shall be held within 90 days of dissolving the incumbent parliament.

“As the 11th national election was held without dissolving the 10th parliament, the polls have breached the constitution,” Barrister Khokon said. 

Moreover, as per article 148(3) if a person is required to make an oath before entering an office, s/he shall be deemed to have entered office immediately after the oath.

Following article 148(3), the new lawmakers shall be deemed to have taken office right after they were sworn in, Khokon added.

However, the 10th national parliament which first sat on January 29, 2014 still exists and will continue till January 28 this year as per Article 72(3) of the constitution, he said, adding, “the oath-taking of the lawmakers is hence unconstitutional”.

On the other hand, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam opposed the writ petition saying that the petitioner lacks locus standi or sufficient interest in the matter in question.

“Advocate Tawhid is neither an elected lawmaker nor a candidate of the December 30 election,” the AG said, adding that there is no legal basis for the court to consider the petition.

Bangladesh and India signed seven memorandum of understanding (MoUs) on cooperation in seven sectors during a virtual summit today.

The seven MoUs include framework agreement on high impact community development projects; cooperation in the field of agricultural, protocol on trans-boundary elephant conservation; supply of equipment and improvement of garbage/solid waste disposal ground in Barishal City Corporation; cooperation between Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Museum, Dhaka and museum in New Delhi; terms of reference of India-Bangladesh CEOs Forum; and framework understanding on cooperation in Hydrocarbon sector.

The virtual summit between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian PM Narendra Modi began around 11:30am.

Hasina and her counterpart Modi delivered their opening remarks.

The meeting will continue until 1:00pm today.

Following that, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen will hold a press conference at the State Guesthouse Padma in Dhaka at 2:30pm.

They launched a postal stamp marking the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and inaugurated Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Museum, which highlights the lives and activities of the founders of Bangladesh and India.