Tangail: Voting in the election to Tangail-4 constituency (Kalihati) began on Tuesday morning.

The balloting began at about 8:00am and will continue till 4:00pm without any break.

According to the district election office, a total of 290,055 voters are expected to exercise their franchise in the by-election through 107 polling centres.

Three candidates—Mohammad Hasan Iman Khan of Awami League, Ataur Rahman Khan of BNF and Imrul Kayes of NPP—are in the polls race.

The parliamentary seat remains vacant since 1 September, 2015 as sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique quit his parliament membership on the same date.

The former Posts and Telecommunications Minister was dropped from the cabinet and stripped off his membership of the ruling Awami League in October, 2014 amid a wave of criticisms following his derogatory remarks on hajj and Tabligh Jamaat in the USA on 28 September, 2014.

Krishak Sramik Janata League president Kader Siddique submitted the nomination paper but after a scrutiny, the returning officer on 13 October, 2015, cancelled his nomination paper on charges of loan default.

The Krishak Shramik Janata League leader appealed to the Election Commission against the decision, but the commission rejected his plea on 18 October.

Later, he filed a writ petition with the High Court against the Commission’s decision.

The HC then directed the Commission on October 21 to accept his candidacy and asked it and the government to explain why the cancellation of his candidature should not be declared illegal.

On 4 February, 2016, the HC rejected a writ petition filed by Kader Siddique challenging the legality of the cancellation of his candidature by the Election Commission.

On 25 February, 2016, he filed a leave-to-appeal petition with the SC against the High Court order.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the High Court order rejecting Krishak Sramik Janata League president Kader Siddique’s plea for participating in the Tangail-4 by-election.