The voting in the Chattogram-8 (Boalkhali-Chandgaon) constituency which fell vacant following the death of Moin Uddin Khan Badal began on Monday morning.

The voting has begun at 9:00 am.

The ballots in the election will be cast through electronic voting machines (EVMs) without any break on the day.

Six candidates, including Awami League’s Moslem Uddin Ahmed and BNP’s Abu Sufian, are contesting the by-polls.

The four other contestants are Chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF) SM Abul Kalam Azad, Syed Mohammad Farid Uddin of Islamic Front Bangladesh, Bapon Dasgupta of NAP and independent candidate Mohammad Emdadul Haque.

Meanwhile, five platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and six platoons of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have been deployed in the election areas along with regular law enforcers for maintaining the law and order.

There are 475,996 voters in the Chittagong 8 constituency.

Moin Uddin Khan Badal, the executive president of a faction of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasod), was elected MP with Awami League's symbol “boat” in the last general election.

He died at a hospital in Bangalore, India on November 7, last at the age of 67.