Himu's Window

Grand Alliance 263      Four-party Alliance 31  Awami League 230                     BNP 29 Total Constituencies: 300 Election held: 299 Results Announced: 298 Noakhali-3 poll witheld Majority Factor: 151 Rajshahi Division: Total 72 AL 48 J P 14 BNP 8 WP 1 Independent 1 Source: Bangladesh Election Commission website Rajshahi District Grand Alliance Candidates Omar Faruk Chowdhury, Fazle Hossain Badsha, Miraj Uddin Mollah, Enamul Haque, Kazi Abdul Wadud Dara and Shahriar Alam at all Rajshahi constituencies are unofficially declared elected. Vote Centers -Constituency-    Grand Alliance Four-party Alliance Gap 127/127 Rajshahi-1 1,46,785 1,29,450 17,335 79/79 Rajshahi-2 1,16,599 89,050 27,549 102/102 Rajshahi-3 1,42,487 93,649 48,838 67/67 Rajshahi-4 1,07,751

All the six grand alliance candidates in Rajshahi constituencies were unofficially declared elected with high turnout of voters in yesterday's historic 9th parliamentary elections. Shefaul Karim, returning officer and deputy commissioner of Rajshahi, started announcing the final results at around 12:00am. In Rajshahi-1, Awami League's district unit General Secretary Omar Faruk Chowdhury left behind his nearest rival BNP's newcomer Enamul Haque, former IGP by a margin of 17,327 votes. Faruk bagged 1,46,777 votes while Enamul got 1,29,450 votes. Worker's Party's politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha was declared the winner of Rajshahi-2 constituency at around 12:00am. Badsha beat the four-party alliance's Mizanur Rahman Minu by 27,549 votes. Badsha bagged 1,16,599 votes, while Minu got 89,050. Awami League's new face Miraj Uddin Mollah of Rajshahi-3 beat BNP's former lawmaker Kabir Hossain by 48,838 votes. He secured 1,42,487 votes, while Kabir bagged 93,6

Rajshahi Division BNP candidates in a number of constituencies in Rajshahi division are unlikely to achieve any gains despite support of its key alliance partner Jamaat-e-Islami due to widening rift and anti-Jamaat sentiment in BNP. Moreover, the vote tally of past elections and the raising demands for resisting war criminals suggest that Jamaat candidates in at least a dozen constituencies, out of total 18 seats where Jamaat-e-Islami has its nominees in the northern region, are likely to see their grand alliance contestants to be stronger.  In three constituencies Chapainwabganj-3, Rajshahi-3 and Sirajganj-4, Jamaat rebellion may pave the way for grand alliance candidates who are also plagued by Awami League candidates' rebellion at some five constituencies Dinajpur-6, Nilphamari-4, Rangpur-4, 5 and Kurigram 4. Strong battle is expected between grand alliance and Jamaat nominees at Pabna-1 and 5 constituencies. Taking advantage of the situations, grand alliance candidates are expe

Six Rajshahi Seats Fates of five senior politicians in Rajshahi have become topic of lively discussion as 28 candidates are contesting with clear signs for major fight between candidates from Awami League (AL)-led grand alliance and BNP-led four-party alliance in six constituencies in the district. The senior politicians are Mizanur Rahman Minu, Kabir Hossain, Azizur Rahman of BNP, Fazle Hossain Badsha of Workers Party and Sardar Amjad Hossain of Awami League. As elsewhere in the country, voting will continue non-stop from 8:00am to 4:00pm at 3921 booths of 551 polling centres in Rajshahi city and nine upazilas of the district that has 15,70,798 voters including 7,70,552 male and 8,00,246 female. Four-party alliance won all the seats in Rajshahi district in 2001 election. In Rajshahi-1, AL candidate Omar Faruk Chowdhury will take on BNP's newcomer Enamul Haque, a former law commission member and former inspector general of police. In 2001 election, BNP's barrister Aminul Haque,

Apart from his rift with party leaders and corruption charges, BNP candidate Mizanur Rahman Minu at Rajshahi-2 constituency is facing criticisms from his own party-men as well as his opponents for his affinity to alliance partner Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. To cover his Jamaat loyalty, Minu's followers circulated leaflets identifying his rival grand alliance's Fazle Hossain Badsha as the godfather of underground operatives. “For his pro-Jamaat attitude, he (Minu) lost trust of maximum party leaders a long ago. Now, he has no way but the support of Jamaat”, said a BNP leader seeking anonymity. His electoral rival grand alliance candidate Fazle Hossain Badsha has talked about Minu's pro-Jamaat attitude and his role behind militancy quite louder than corruption charges during electoral campaigns.  Ignoring those campaigning, Minu said it would not hurt his popularity. “People are aware that it was during our (BNP-Jamaat) rule when militants were arrested and tried”. National h

In Rajshahi-3 constituency, Jamaat-e Islami candidate Ataur Rahman and his supporters made frantic efforts in their election campaigns to prove that his rival BNP candidate Kabir Hossain is an unfit candidate, and on the last day of the campaign on Saturday, some Jamaat-Shibir activists circulated a rumour that Kabir has passed away. Protesting the Jamaat propaganda, Kabir yesterday gave a statement to local media that he is still alive and was engaged in election activities till the end of official period of campaign. He also submitted a complaint in this regard with the Election Commission claiming that it is a violation of electoral code of conduct. Kabir said a Rajshahi University teacher belonging to Jamaat at a mosque at Shyampur of Katakhali municipal area circulated the rumour of his death. http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=69182

Bid to befool Rajshahi voters, civil society men say BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami candidates during election campaigns in Rajshahi constituencies have given a 'false version' of the dreadful rise of so-called Islamist militancy in the country to befool voters, civil society members alleged.Jamaat candidates once again brushed aside the dreadful events, saying thees are no more. BNP candidates claimed that the four-party alliance government did not abet militancy, rather it brought militants under justice.They said, the problem of militancy is no more now. Their election campaigns ended yesterday midnight.BNP candidate Mizanur Rahman Minu in Rajshahi-2 constituency in an interview with a local newspaper in Rajshahi termed the allegation of his abetting militancy as 'pre-planned' to tarnish his image. “During alliance rule, we brought militants under law, took them to court, and did not help them. BNP is a liberal party where there is no shelter for militants and extremists. W