"We count every ballot as a unique protest against the killing of my husband, who won hearts of local people by his hard work, honesty and love for them," said Farida Ahsan, wife of the slain Awami League (AL) lawmaker.

"People have not cast their votes

only for the symbol, but also for Russell whom they know as the son of Ahsanullah Master. And they did it for their love for Ahsanullah and to see that his killers are punished," Farida told The Daily Star at her Noagaon house in Tongi during by-polls yesterday.

An all-pervasive shock still grips the house, 80 yards off the scene where Ahsanullah was gunned down. Ahsanullah's son and other family members stood near the gate with anxiety about the polls result and Farida was trying to fight back tears as the polls reminded her of her husband's gruesome killing.

Students and authorities of Noagaon MA Majid Mia High School where the opposition lawmaker was killed marked the scene with black flags in a show of shock at his death.

Assailants allegedly led by Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal leader Nurul Islam Sarker shot dead Ahsanullah and a schoolboy on May 7 at a rally on the school premises.

Observing that they have no chance to come to the front of local politics, a vested quarter masterminded the killing of a leader whom people elected five times -- twice as lawmaker and thrice as union parishad chairman, Farida said.

"Wherever I went after my husband's killing, people expressed terrible shock for him as he worked throughout his life for them. They responded spontaneously as I begged vote for my son."

"People called us by phone the whole day today expressing their support for Russell and sympathy for the whole family," Jabid Ahsan Sohel, Russell's younger brother said.

"Love and affection for my father played an important role in the election," he said.

"But even after the gruesome killing of such a popular man, the killers are moving around scot-free. It is hard to believe that the accused in such a sensational murder case are freed on bail in short time," Sohel's mother said.

"In fact, we are passing our days in scare," she said, alleging that police were creating panic by arresting innocent AL workers and killing witnesses to the assassination.