Dhaka-13: BNP's Bobby Hajjaj beats Mamunul Haque by over 2,000 votes
Mamunul Haque filed complaints alleging irregularities in the vote counting process.
BNP-nominated candidate Bobby Hajjaj has secured victory in the Dhaka-13 constituency by a margin of more than 2,000 votes, according to preliminary unofficial results.
Based on the primary count, Hajjaj received 88,387 votes, while his closest rival, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis Ameer Mamunul Haque, secured 86,067 votes – giving the BNP candidate a lead of 2,320 votes.
Earlier, Bobby Hajjaj had claimed victory on his verified Facebook page before any formal announcement from the Election Commission (EC). In a post early Friday (13 February), he wrote, "Alhamdulillah, BNP's sheaf of paddy candidate Bobby Hajjaj has unofficially secured victory in Dhaka-13."
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On the contrary, Mamunul Haque filed complaints alleging irregularities in the vote counting process. Around 2am, he submitted a written complaint to the constituency's returning officer and later went to the EC building at around 3am to pursue the matter further.
After meeting the returning officer, Mamunul quoted him as saying, "The EC office is right next to this one. You may file your complaint there. After the results are declared, you may also go to court if you are aggrieved. We will act in accordance with any directive from the court. If necessary, votes will be recounted."
Speaking to The Business Standard, Mamunul alleged that flaws in the ballot design led to a significant number of his votes being declared invalid.
"There are nine candidates in my constituency. Five names were printed on one side of the ballot and four on the other. My name was at the bottom on the left side. As the box next to my name was left blank, many voters mistakenly stamped the empty space. Those ballots were declared invalid," he said.
He further claimed that a similar issue occurred in Dhaka-8, where BNP candidate Mirza Abbas's name appeared in the same position on the ballot.
"In Dhaka-8, some seals also fell on the blank space next to Mirza Abbas's name. But those votes were counted in his favour," Mamunul alleged.
According to Mamunul, 1,200 of his votes were declared invalid after results from 50 polling centres were announced.
"Results from the remaining centres are yet to be declared. We estimate that if such votes from all centres are invalidated, the number could reach around 3,000," he said, noting that there are 139 polling centres in the constituency.
