Awami League's district president Matiur Rahman gained the Sunamganj-4 seat in Monday's by-election, beating former BNP whip Fazlul Haque Aspia by nearly 34,000 votes.

Returning officer Khandaker Mizanur Rahman, who announced the result at around 9.45pm, said the by-election was held peacefully. Matiur (boat) bagged 81,032 votes, leaving his nearest rival Fazlul (paddy sheaf) with 47,219 votes. The only other contestant in the constituency, National Peoples Party's Krishak Mohammad Sadek (mango) polled just 860.

The seat became vacant on the death of Jatiya Party MP Momotaj Iqbal in April. The vote kicked of at 105 polling centres at 8am Monday. "Voter presence looked rather poor, but the polling is being conducted properly," Sirajul Islam, presiding officer at the Shologhar Primary School polling centre, told bdnews24.com in the morning.

However, an assistant presiding officer, Abul Khair, was relieved of duty at PTI Government Primary School during the polling on charges of irregularities. Rahman said a voter had made a complaint against Khair of practicing "unfair means".

"I checked, found Khair guilty and relieved him immediately," said the RO. Khair was subsequently quizzed at the election office, Rahman told bdnews24.com. A total of 230,835 voters are registered in the constituency.

- bdnews