ALL SMILES AGAIN :Aspiring mayor Selina Hayat Ivy flashes a smile and waves at voters during her visit to a polling station in Narayanganj, which went to polls to pick up a city father, on Sunday. syed zakir hosainSelina Hayat Ivy won the mayoralty of Narayanganj City Corporation in a landslide victory in Sunday?s ballot, getting herself a place in the country?s history as the first female city mayor. At 12:47am early today, Returning Officer Biswas Lutfur Rahman has unofficially announced Ivy as the winner in the mayoral race.
According to unofficial results, she led the polls by more than 100,000 votes to defeat her nearest rival, ruling Awami League-backed AKM Shamim Osman.
Ivy bagged 180,819 votes whereas Shamim secured 78,705 votes in 163 polling centres in the maiden election to the newly formed city corporation. Around 70 percent votes were cast in the polls. With the win, history also repeated for Ivy whose father Ali Ahmed Chunka was elected chairman of the erstwhile Narayanganj municipality, beating then ruling AL-sponsored candidate in 1974.
Ivy herself had also run the municipality for eight years from 2003.
?It is a victory of general people who gave their verdict against misdeeds,? Ivy said in an instant reaction late last night when she was clearly ahead of Shamim with a big margin. ?I want to work for the people of Narayanganj irrespective of their political identities and creeds as the mayor,? she told reporters at her residence.
Shamim was reluctant to make any comments. But earlier in the afternoon, he had told reporters that he would not have submitted his candidacy if he had known about ?the biasness of a section of police and administration?. ?It is a stage-managed election. If I had known about it, I would not have participated in the polls,? he told reporters at Narayanganj Rifles Club at about 3:30pm. ?I have nothing to do even after I have now come to learn that the election is unfair. My hands are tied since I?m a ruling party-backed candidate,? he said.Shamim expressed frustration with the elections for ?behind-the-scenes move to ensure my defeat?. ?The police were persuading voters in exchange for money to cast votes for Ivy,? Shamim said.The 8:00am-4:00pm polling was almost peaceful amid high tension and the BNP-backed mayoral candidate?s last-minute withdrawal from the race on the plea of non-deployment of army.
Ivy?s supporters screamed in joy when results of different polling centres were announced. They brought out processions in the city in the evening, assuming a landslide victory of their leader.
In the early hours yesterday, BNP-backed candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker quit the race as the Election Commission failed to deploy army because of the government?s non-cooperation.
With Taimur gone, Ivy emerged a favourite choice of voters alongside the other frontrunner Shamim Osman. The three other mayoral candidates?Bangladesh Shashantantra Andolan-backed Atikur Rahman Nannu Munshi, Atikul Islam Jibon and Sharif Mohammad?were also in the race.
A total of 403,189 voters?203,344 male and 200,845 female?were entitled to exercise their franchise, according to the data of the EC.
People of Narayanganj enjoyed Sunday as public holiday.
Some 600-700 media workers and 200 poll observers, including foreigners, thronged the city to cover the election, EC sources said.
A total of 56 female candidates contested the election for nine reserved posts for female councillor while 250 candidates vied for 27 general councillor posts.
Electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used in the polls in nine of the city?s 27 wards.
The EC had earlier named 131 of the 163 poling centres as vulnerable by the EC following allegations of different candidates.
Some 8,500 security men, including 4,000 policemen, 1,400 members of Rapid Action Battalion, 180 coastguards and 2,500 Ansar members, were deployed to ensure security, Returning Officer Biswas Lutfur Rahman told reporters.
In addition, closed-circuit TV cameras were installed in 20 polling centres.
Over 3,800 election officials, including 163 presiding officers, 1,217 assistant presiding officers and 2,434 polling officers, were engaged in the elections.
Three liaison officers were placed in three police stations?Narayanganj sadar, Bandar Kadam Rasul and Siddhirganj?to act as coordinators.
The EC engaged 36 magistrates, including nine judicial magistrates, to lead mobile courts to prevent poll violence and anomalies.
Police and Rab members were engaged also in controlling movements of people and motorised vehicles at several check posts at strategic points in the city.
VICTORIOUS COUNCILLORS
Winners of the reserved (women) councillor posts are: Maksuda Mozaffer, Zannatul Ferdous Nila, Maksuda Rashid Sikdar, Rahima Sharif Maya, Khodeza Khanam Nasreen and Maksuda Khanam.
The victorious general councillors are: Abdur Rahim in ward 1, Shah Jalal in ward 3, Nur Hossain in ward 4, Shafiqul Islam Babul in ward 5, Sirajul Islam in ward 6, Ala Hossain Ala in ward 7, Ruhul Amin in ward 8, Israfil Prodhan in ward 9, Jamsher Ali Jhantu in ward 11, Mohammad Shawkat Hasem in ward 12, Monir Hossain Khan in ward 14, Asit Baran Biswas in ward 15, Murad Hossain in ward 17, Kamrul Hasan Munna in ward 18, Faysal Md Sagor in ward 19, Hannan Sarkar in ward 21, Sultan Ahmed Bhuiyan in ward 22, Afzal Hossain in ward 24, Md Anayet Hossain in ward 25, Md Sirajul Islam in ward 27.
Source: daily-sun.com
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