Later, the Election Commission and the High Court declared Salauddin Ahmed a loan defaulter and canceled his candidature. Due to this, the ruling party had to extend its support to Syed Muhammad Ibrahim of Kalyan Party in the constituency.
In a video message, Zafar Alam told the people of Chakaria and Pekua, “I contested the 12th parliamentary elections with my election symbol ‘Truck’. The people of Chakaria and Pekua clearly supported me. Realizing this a certain intelligence agency and BGB members started occupying various centers after 12:00 noon and started beating my agents and stuffing the ballot papers. They also brutally injured the presiding officer. As a result, I thought it was better to stay away from the election rather than cause any mishaps in the process of preventing it. This is what I have done. I am grateful to all of you. I was and will be with you.”