Ashraful Hossain Alam, known as Hero Alam, will contest the by-election to the Dhaka-17 constituency, which fell vacant following the death of actor Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque.

Hero Alam will buy a nomination form from the Election Commission at 3:00pm today, he told The Daily Star in the morning.

Asked why he wanted to participate in the Dhaka-17 by-polls, Hero Alam said, " Farooque bhai was a great hero. His death is a great loss to all of us. Various development works remain unfinished as he fell ill and passed away. I want to finish those unfinished works.

"People of the entire country love me now. I reached here facing many difficulties. I want to prove how much people love me by participating in Dhaka by-polls. I am sure the voters of Dhaka will vote for me," Hero Alam said.

Asked whether he would contest the national election from Dhaka, Hero Alam said, "I will participate in the national election either from Dhaka or from Bogura."

Hero Alam took part in the by-elections to Bogura-4 and Bogura-6 seats held in February. Although he lost in Bogura-6 with a big margin, he was defeated by Awami League-backed Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD) candidate only by 834 votes in Bogura-4 constituency.

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