Abdul Baten wins Dhaka-16 constituency after a close fight

After a close fight in the capital's important constituency, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md. Abdul Baten has won the Dhaka-16 constituency in unofficial results.

Dhaka Divisional Commissioner and Returning Officer Sharaf Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury officially announced the results at around 8:15 am on Friday (February 13). According to the announcement, Abdul Baten with the 'scale' symbol got 88,828 votes. His closest rival, BNP candidate Md. Aminul Haque with the 'rice sheaf' symbol got 85,467 votes. That is, the Jamaat candidate's victory was confirmed by a margin of just 3,361 votes.

According to the final count of 138 polling stations in Dhaka-16 constituency, 184,563 out of a total of 4,499 voters cast their votes. Of these, 3,764 votes were cancelled, and the number of valid votes stood at 180,799. The voter turnout in this constituency was 46 percent, which is satisfactory compared to other constituencies in Dhaka.

Apart from these two main candidates, 9 other candidates contested. Islami Andolan Bangladesh candidate Md. Saiful Islam got 3,679 votes with the ‘fan’ symbol. Jatiya Party candidate Md. Sultan Ahmed Selim got 1,464 votes with the ‘plough’ symbol. The remaining independent and small party candidates had negligible votes.

After the results were announced, there was jubilation among Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists. BNP leader Aminul Haque called for accepting defeat and maintaining a peaceful stance. Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Sharaf Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury said that the counting of votes was done in a very transparent process and the results of each center were confirmed in the presence of agents. It is worth noting that among the seats that Jamaat has won in Dhaka Metropolitan City, Dhaka-16 is considered prestigious.