Voting ends for Baghaichhari municipal council seats

The first election under the Nurul Huda-led Election Commission has ended peacefully at Rangamati’s Baghaicharhi Upazila.

Rangamati Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 18 Feb 2017, 08:29 AM
Updated : 18 Feb 2017, 10:19 AM

The municipal polls began at 8am on Saturday and ended at 4pm.

Though turnout was low at first, it began to pick up as the day progressed.

Adequate security arrangements have been made in the area. No trouble has been reported.

This is the second municipal elections in Baghaichharhi.

Though the Municipal Councils were announced in 2004, the first administrator was selected by appointment.

Seven years later independent candidate Alamgir Kabir was elected as mayor in 2011. Though he later became a member of the BNP, he has been unable to stand in the latest elections due to family problems.

The three candidates in the election are Jafar Ali Khan of the Awami League, Omor Ali of the BNP and independent candidate Azizur Rahman Aziz.

Twenty-five candidates have competed for nine seats in the general council, while six others for three reserved women councillor seats.

The municipality has 10,177 registered voters.

A returning officer supervised the team of election officials including a judicial magistrate, two executive magistrates, nine presiding officials and many police, Ansar-BGB and RAB officers during the election.

The election is the first overseen by the new Election Commission led by Nurul Huda.

The new commission was formed on Feb 6. The EC is tasked with overseeing the next five years of polls, including the general election in 2019.

The commission includes former additional secretary Mahbub Talukder, former secretary Rafiqul Islam, former district judge Kabita Khanam and former brigadier general Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury as election commissioners.

As with the Kazi Rakibuddin-led commission before,  the BNP has cast aspersions on the impartiality of the new EC from the start of its term.