Ruling Awami League candidates on Thursday won by-elections to the Dhaka-18 and Sirajgaj-1 parliamentary constituencies amid low turnout.

Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party claimed that voters could not cast votes in the elections as ruling party activists captured most of the polling stations and resorted to various irregularities.

In Dhaka-18, AL candidate bagged 75,820 votes while his nearest contestant BNP’s SM Jahangir Hossain secured 5,369 votes.

The total turnout in the constituency was 14.18 per cent.

In Sirajganj-1, AL’s Tanvir Shakil Joy got 1,88,325 votes and his opponent BNP’s Selim Reza got 468 votes.

The total turnout in the constituency is 54 per cent.

The polls were held through electronic voting machines.

In Dhaka, BNP chairperson’s advisory council member Aman Ullah Aman at a press conference, on behalf of BNP candidate Jahangir, rejected the result and demanded a fresh election.

At another press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, its acting office secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince alleged that law enforcers and presiding and polling officers played the role of silent spectators as the supporters of ruling party candidates resorted to vote fraud.

‘They helped ruling party cadres in many cases,’ he claimed.

He alleged that the Awami League hired goons and used them to capture polling stations and obstruct the common voters from exercising their rights.

The BNP leader said that the ruling party activists also forced many people to cast votes for ‘boat’ by establishing their control over the voting booths.

In Dhaka, only 295 votes had been cast at two polling centres in Starlit School of English over five hours while the total number of voters at the centres is 4,861.

No agents of BNP and other rival candidates were seen at most of the polling booths while there was a strong presence of AL activists outside the polling stations, the BNP leader claimed.

Police detained a youth from Kamarpara High School and College polling centre area following an explosion of a crude bomb.

In Sirajganj, BNP candidate Selim Reza alleged that supporters of Awami League candidate Tanvir, son of former lawmaker Mohammed Nasim, drove out his polling agents and stuffed ballot boxes.

Refuting the complaints, Tanvir said the BNP candidate brought the allegations for political gain.

Dhaka-18 constituency fell vacant following the death of Awami League lawmaker Sahara Khatun while Sirajganj-1 constituency fell vacant following the death of ruling party MP Mohammad Nasim.