Voting for the Thakurgaon-1 (Sadar, Ruhia, and Bhulli) constituency by-election began simultaneously across 185 polling centers on Thursday (October 29) at 8:00 AM and will continue without interruption until 4:00 PM.

A total of five candidates are in the final race. Following the verification of nomination papers on September 29, six candidates were initially declared eligible.

However, Obaidullah Masud, Vice President of the district BNP, withdrew his candidature on October 5 in line with a party decision.

The final contestants are: Mirza Faysal Amin, brother of President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and the candidate for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP); Delawar Hossain, candidate of the 11-party alliance led by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami; Hafez Dr. Khademul Islam; Abdul Alim Nizami; and Hossain Muhammad Omar Farooq.

Meanwhile, strict security measures have been deployed around the polling centers.

To ensure a free and fair election, members of the Special Response Battalion (SRB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and Ansar & VDP are operating alongside the police in the field.

The Election Commission (EC) reaffirmed its commitment to conducting a fair election and stated there is no cause for concern regarding the poll.

A monitoring cell has been set up at the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka, to oversee the overall situation.

This cell will monitor polling centers, law enforcement operations, and vote management minute by minute.

On the eve of the election, candidates from the BNP and the 11-party alliance traded allegations during separate press conferences on Wednesday.

However, law enforcement agencies are actively working to keep the situation under control.

On August 20, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected as the 23rd President of Bangladesh, defeating Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chairman retired Colonel Oli Ahmad by 255 votes.

The Thakurgaon-1 seat fell vacant following his election to the presidency, leading to Thursday's by-election.

Thakurgaon-1 has a total of 515,853 registered voters—257,219 male, 258,630 female, and 4 third-gender voters. Additionally, 287 voters (249 men and 38 women) registered to vote via postal ballot in this by-election.