Bangladesh, Aug. 20 -- Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the Leader of the House, has cast his ballot in the presidential election, taking ruling party BNP's candidate Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir along with him.

At 2:10pm on Thursday, the prime minister rose from his seat and walked towards the ballot box with Fakhrul, who was seated beside him.

A minute later, the parliamentary leader dropped his ballot into the box.

Lawmakers greeted Tarique by thumping their desks as he voted.

Fakhrul then cast his own ballot, drawing another round of desk-thumping from ruling party members.

The BNP candidate then shook hands with lawmakers present, before exchanging greetings with Opposition leaders Shafiqur Rahman and Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher....