Bangladesh's Election Commission declared on November 16 that the ruling party candidate had provisionally won the by-election to the parliament in the northwestern Tangail district, which was held on November 15.

Shawkat Momen Shahjahan of the ruling Awami League (AL) won the polls by securing 75,975 votes, defeating his nearest rival, independent candidate Abdul Kader Siddiqui, who received more than 60,148 votes from 78 of the 82 polling centers.

Polling in the remaining four polling centers was suspended on Monday by the Election Commission due to violence and alleged rigging, but Shahjahan was declared elected unofficially as the total 13,452 votes of the four centers would not affect the result after re-polling.

The by-election bore special significance both to the government and Siddiqui, an expelled AL leader, political observers here said.

For the government, it was a test of its popularity amid escalating confrontation with the opposition, and for Siddiqui, it would mean life or death of his political life, they said.

Siddiqui, who resigned from the parliament after he was dispelled from the party for "violating party discipline" earlier this year, had rejected the election, saying massive rigging was done by the ruling party, press reports said.

"I will not accept the result whether I win or lose," he was quoted as saying, adding that he could not even cast his own vote as it was cast by somebody else before he went to the polling station.

Thirty-two candidates were in the race for the parliament seat, but Shahjahan and Siddiqui were the major contenders.

The seat fell vacant on August 29 when Siddiqui quit the parliament after he was dispelled from the party, apparently because of a row with AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Major opposition parties, such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jatiya Party, boycotted the election.