BNP candidate re-elected Comilla mayor

BNP candidate Monirul Haque Sakku has been re-elected mayor of Comilla city.

He bagged 68,948 votes with the party’s electoral symbol ‘paddy sheaf’ while his nearest candidate Awami League’s Anjum Sultana Sima won 57,863 votes with the ‘boat’ symbol of the ruling party in 101 of 103 centres.

The Election Commission announced the results from its control room set up at the Town Hall on Thursday.

Voting at two centres with about 5,000 votes was suspended due to disorder. That will not affect Sakku’s victory with a margin of 11,085 votes.

Sakku, who defeated Sima’s father Afzal Khan in the last election to the city corporation in 2012, however, alleged that his supporters were barred from entering the polling stations.

“I would have secured 120,000 votes, if 170,000 votes had been cast,” he said after taking an early lead.

Sima conceded defeat and pledged to work with the new mayor for the next five-year term.

The BNP leader said he and his supporters faced ‘harassment’ during the polls.

Pointing his finger at the law enforcers, he said they fell short of expectations in providing protection for them against harassment.

He thanked the people of the city for electing him. "I will always stand by the city dwellers."

Though the Election Commission expected the turnout to hover around 80 percent, it has not crossed 65 percent. After the total count ended, the commission said the turnout was 63.92 percent.

The EC and the ruling Awami League have rejected the BNP’s allegation of vote rigging.

BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, “After midday voting, the Awami League activists took control of polling stations and went on a rigging frenzy.”

But CEC KM Nurul Huda said the commission ‘fully succeeded’ in achieving public confidence through the election in Comilla.

Awami League leader Mahbub-Ul-Alam Hanif dismissed the BNP’s allegations as ‘baseless’ because the party ‘did not present any data’ to back up the allegation of vote rigging.

“A negative perception about elections always works among the BNP. It aims to mar the election in the event of their defeat,” he said. 

Hanif also claimed that the government’s cooperation in Comilla polls and the festive election environment proved that the ruling party is committed to conducting fair polls.

He said the party would accept any outcome of the election.
 

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