Desk News || Voting has begun in the by-election for the Thakurgaon-1 constituency, which comprises Sadar, Ruhia and Bhulli. Polling started at 8:00 am on Thursday (October 29) and will continue until 4:00 pm.Election materials began arriving at polling stations on Wednesday afternoon. Security measures have been strengthened across the constituency to maintain law and order during the election.A total of 21 platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), 2,272 police personnel and 2,405 Ansar members have been deployed for election duty. Members of the election inquiry committee, along with judicial and executive magistrates, are also working in the field.A total of 177 domestic and local election observers, along with four foreign observers, are expected to monitor the electoral process.The constituency has 516,138 registered voters, including 257,468 men, 258,666 women and four transgender voters.Anwar Hossain, assistant returning officer and Sadar Upazila election officer, said voting is being conducted at 185 polling stations with 989 polling booths. CCTV cameras have been installed at the polling stations as part of security arrangements.Vote counting will begin at each polling station immediately after voting ends, and results will be announced at the respective centres. A dedicated centre has been established at the District Shilpakala Academy to collect and disseminate the results. Officials will transmit the counting results from the polling stations to the designated centre.Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was elected as a member of parliament from the constituency in the 13th parliamentary election. Following his swearing-in as president, the seat was declared vacant. The Election Commission announced the by-election schedule on September 10.Five candidates are contesting the by-election. They are Mirza Faisal Amin, president of the Thakurgaon district unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and brother of President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, contesting with the Sheaf of Paddy symbol; Delawar Hossain, a member of Jamaat-e-Islami’s central Majlis-e-Shura and assistant secretary of its Dhaka South city unit, contesting with the Scales symbol; Khademul Islam of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, contesting with the Hand Fan symbol; Abdul Alim Nizami of Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan, contesting with the Banyan Tree symbol; and Hussain Muhammad Omar Faruk of Bangladesh Congress, contesting with the Duck symbol.