A glimpse of the Narayanganj city corporation polls

People in Narayanganj are voting to elect the city’s mayor in the second election since it became a city corporation in 2011.

Moinul Hoque Chowdhurybdnews24.com
Published : 22 Dec 2016, 04:12 AM
Updated : 22 Dec 2016, 07:08 AM

The Election Commission said the cost of holding the election was more than Tk 50 million.

The first election that was non-partisan saw the victory of Selina Hayat Ivy against Shamim Osman who had the endorsement of ruling Awami League.

She is now contesting for a second term as mayor of the river port city in an election being held on party lines. A lawyer, BNP’s Sakhawat Hossain Khan is her main challenger in the polls.

There are five more contenders in the race but the candidates of the two major parties have grabbed all the attention.

The 7 Mayoral Candidates

Party

Candidate

Symbol

Awami League

Selina Hayat Ivy

Boat

BNP

Sakhawat Hossain Khan

Paddy sheaf

Revolutionary Workers’ Party

Mahbubur Rahman Ismail

Spade

LDP

Kamal Pradhan

Umbrella

Islami Andolan Bangladesh

Masum Billah

Hand-fan

Bangladesh Kalyan Party

Rashed Ferdous

Wristwatch

Islami Oikya Jote

Muft Ezharur Huq

Minaret

The 2011 City Corporation polls

On May 5, 2011 the government published a gazette notification combining the Narayanganj, Kadam Rasul and Shidhirganj municipalities into a city corporation.

On Oct 30, Narayanganj Awami League Vice President Ivy was elected mayor after defeating former Awami League MP Shamim Osman by over 100,000 votes.

>>Six candidates had contested for mayor in a non-party vote.

>>250 candidates competed for the position of councillor and 56 for the reserved councillor seats

>>Mayor candidate Seline Hayat Ivy secured 180,048 votes

>>Shamim Osman came second with 78,705 votes

>>The BNP-backed candidate Taimur Alam Khandker received 7,616 votes

>>Atiqur Rahman Nannu Munshi received 6,612 votes, Sharif Mohammed received 1,493 and Atikul Islam Jibon received 1,855

Narayanganj residents in nine wards cast their votes  on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) during the 2011 election. This year all voting will be through traditional ballots.

Ivy, the first Bangladeshi woman to become mayor of a city corporation, announced her candidacy on Nov 27 and took office on Dec 1.

The EC is under legal obligation to finish counting ballots before Dec 26 as the first City Corporation meeting took place on Dec 27, 2011. 

Election officers

>>The EC Deputy Secretary Md Nuruzzaman Talukdar is the Narayanganj Returning Officer

>>Election officials Md Tarifuzzaman, Shahid Abdus Salam, Mohammad Nurul Alam, Mohammad Shafikur Rahman, Muhammad Nazim Uddin, Md Rashid Miah, Sayed Md Anwar Khaled, Md Omor Farooque and Md Shumon Miah are Assistant Returning Officals

>>Each polling centre will have one presiding official. 1,217 assistant presiding officials and 2,434 polling officials will also be present

>>In total, almost 4,000 officials are conducting the election

9,000 law enforcement officials deployed

Despite repeated calls from the BNP to deploy the army to oversee polls, the proposal was rejected by the EC as being unnecessary.

>>4,000 police officers, 600 RAB officers, 22 platoons of BGB, 3 platoons of the coast guard, and Battalion Ansar, Ansar-VDP and other police officers and officials have been deployed to the area and will stay until the day after the election

>>On Monday, the BGB was deployed as a ‘Striking Force’. 10 of their platoons are in Shidhirganj. BGB has also been deployed to the Narayanganj City – 7 area and the Harbour – 5 area

>>Three police teams are patrolling each ward, 81 teams in all. Each team consists of 12 officers

>>24 law enforcement officers will be present at each polling centre. 4 of them will be from armed police units, 3 of them will be Battalion Ansar members and 14 will be Ansar-VDP members

>>Special security arrangements are in place for 137 polling places deemed ‘vulnerable’

>>Since Dec 5, 27 Election Magistrates and 6 Judicial Magistrates have been deployed to the wards. On election day 44 Election Magistrates will take charge of the Mobile and Strike Forces and 14 Judicial Magistrates will be available.