BNP leaders Ariful Haque Chowdhury, Ahsan Habib Kamal, Mossaddeque Hossain Bulbul and Moniruzzaman Mani have unofficially been elected mayor in Sylhet, Barisal, Rajshahi and Khulna, respectively.
All the Awami Leaders, defeated by a margin of 17,000 to 70,000 votes, had served as Mayor of the four cities in the previous term.
An Awami League Presidium member sees the crushing defeat as a ‘wake-up call’ for the ruling party while the opposition BNP has termed it a ‘revolution by the people’.
The opposition supporters started the celebrations and distributed sweets as soon as the results put their candidates in pole position.
The personnel of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) dispersed a procession taken out by the defeated Mayor hopeful in Rajshahi. But, the ‘frustrated’ supporters of the other three Awami League leaders did not even bother to take to the street after the announcement.
The Chief Election Commissioner earlier had urged everyone to accept ‘the people mandate’ in the right spirit.
The nation waited with bated breath after the two major political parties announced about taking the polls ‘seriously’.
With the opposition questioning its credibility and efficiency, the Election Commission also took it as a ‘challenge’ to conduct the balloting that would be accepted to all.
Voting in the city corporations started at 8am and ended at 4pm Saturday without any major incident.
The Election Commission believes 80 percent of the 1.2 million voters sealed on their ballots on that day.
The EC officials started to declare the results since 8pm Saturday.
The final result of the Sylhet City Corporation came first, followed by those of Barisal and Rajshahi. The returning official declared the results of Khulna City Corporation elections at around 1:45am on Sunday.
Sylhet
Ariful Haque Chowdhury won by a margin of 35,000 votes, polling 107,330 votes while his closest contender outgoing Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran drew 72,173 from all the 128 centres.
Kamran, the Sylhet Metropolitan Awami League President, was quick to concede.
In an instant reaction, he said: “I’m happy with the people’s mandate. I’m grateful to the city dwellers for casting votes peacefully. I’ll try to serve the people in the future like I did in the past by being beside the people.”
The Returning Officer SM Ejharul Haq said the elections saw 180,525 legitimate votes cast. There were 291,046 voters in the city.
Ahsan Habib Kamal was unofficially elected Mayor of Barisal City Corporation after he comprehensively beat Awami League-backed Shawkat Hossain Hiran by more than 17000 votes.
Contesting with ‘pineapple’ symbol, he pulled 83,751 votes while his nearest rival Hiran with ‘television’ symbol bagged 66,761 votes.
The results were announced from the Presiding Officer’s office at C&B Road in Barisal city since around 10:30pm.
Mammudul Haque Khan Mamun, Joint Convenor of Juba League’s metropolitan unit, was also in the fray with an electoral symbol of ‘pen and inkpot’.
Speaking to bdnew24.com, Kamal described his victory as ‘political’.
”This is indeed a local election and the BNP is strong in the city,” he said adding that he won the elections due to “political reasons”.
As many as 152,299 of the 211,257 voters went to the 100 centres in Barisal on Saturday to cast their vote, with a 72.1 percent turnout.
Rajshahi
Again, the BNP-led opposition’s choice Mossaddeque Hossain Bulbul has unofficially been elected Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation
Bulbul comprehensively beat Awami League-backed candidate AHM Khairuzzaman Liton by 47,332 votes.
He drew 131,058 votes with the poll sign ‘pineapple’ while Liton pulled 83,726 votes with ‘lock’ symbol.
Rajshahi’s Regional Election Officer Subhash Chandra Sarker announced the final result for all the 137 centres from the temporary control room set up at the Government Laboratory Zilla High School Zilla at around 1:20am on Sunday.
He said 76.09 percent of the 28,6916 votes were cast during the balloting.
Like the other three city corporations, Khulna City also saw a BNP-backed candidate sweeping the polls with huge margin.
Moniruzzaman Mani got the better of his nearest rival, Awami League-backed candidate Talukder Abdul Khaleque by staggering 70,000 votes.
Mani, who contested with ‘pineapple’ symbol, secured 180,093 votes. Khaleque with ‘lock’ symbol got 119,422 votes, Presiding Officers of all the 288 centres told bdnews24.com.
Speaking to bdnews24.com at around 2am on Sunday, he said he believed the people had in fact extended their support to the BNP demand for revival of the caretaker government system by voting for the opposition-backed candidates in the city corporation elections.
”Actually, each of those who has won the city corporation elections has been demonstrating for the restoration of the caretaker provision,” he said.
Official claimed 68.7 percent of the total 440,566 votes were cast on Saturday.
Spontaneous Voting
Voting at one centre in Barisal was suspended for an hour after supporters of two rival mayoral candidates engaged in a brawl. BNP activists reportedly attacked a RAB vehicle in Khulna. Barring these, no major incident was reported anywhere during the polls.
But, one person died in heart attack during tensions sparked off by a stand-off between RAB and supporters of a Councillor candidate in the Khulna elections.
The Election Commission withdrew an election official after she got herself involved in an altercation with the voters in Sylhet.
The cities wore a festive look with spontaneous participation of voters. The presence of female voters was also noticeable.
A huge number of police and BGB personnel were deployed to maintain law and order. The elections saw no army deployment, though BNP had asked for it.
Vote Calculation
According to the Election Commission, among the 1.2 million voters in the four cities, 853,653 people went to the centres to seal on the ballots.
As much as 59 percent of them voted for the candidates backed by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami while Awami League-backed ones got 40 percent of the total votes.
Former Jamaat activist Habibur Rahman, businessman Salauddin Rimon, Joint Convenor of Juba League’s Barisal’s metropolitan unit Mahmudul Haque Khan Mamun and Jatiya Party (A)-backed candidate Shafiqul Islam Modhu ran in the polls in Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Khulna, respectively.
‘Caretaker support’ or ‘Warning call’
The victors have talked about the demand for restoration of the caretaker system to oversee the looming general elections apart from promises to work to make their cities better.
Speaking to bdnews24.com at around 2am on Sunday, Khulna mayoral race winner Moniruzzaman Mani said he believed the people had, in fact, extended their support to the BNP demand for revival of the caretaker government system by voting for the opposition-backed candidates in the city corporation elections.
Ahsan Habib Kamal has described his victory in the Barisal City Corporation elections as ‘political’.
”This is indeed a local election and the BNP is strong in the city,” he said adding that he won the elections due to “political reasons”.
Mossaddeque Hossain Bulbul believed the results of the Rajshahi City Corporation elections have reflected the failure of the government in running the affairs.
BNP-backed candidate Ariful Haque Chowdhury, after sweeping the Sylhet City polls, said, “I want to become a Mayor for all. I want to work as a public servant.”
Though the BNP is yet to come up with a formal reaction, Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told reporters at around 11:15pm on Saturday that the people have staged a ‘silent revolution’ through ballots in those four city elections.
As the vanquished, Kamran, the Sylhet Metropolitan Awami League President, was quick to concede the election.
Awami League leader Obaidul Quader sees the defeat of the ruling Awami League-backed candidates as a ‘wake-up call’.
”Wake up call for the ruling party,” the ruling party’s Presidium member said in his Facebook status at around 9pm on Saturday.
Looking back at 2008
Last elections to those city corporations were held on Aug 8, 2008 under the army-backed caretaker government.
Though BNP had announced to stay away, its local leaders contested the polls swept by the Awami League-backed candidates.
