Awami League’s Taposh, Atiqul take early lead in Dhaka mayor elections

The Awami League’s mayor hopefuls Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh and Atiqul Islam have taken initial lead with the ‘Boat’ symbol in the elections to the Dhaka city corporations.

Election officials began announcing the results after polling closed largely without incident amid low turnout on Saturday.

Dhaka South Returning Officer Abdul Baten formally declared the outcomes of voting at 1075 centres out of 1150 at Dhaka's Shilpakala Academy.

Taposh leads the race with 399,695 votes for ‘Boat’ symbol so far.

His closest rival Ishraque Hossain, the BNP-endorsed candidate, bagged 219,027 votes with ‘Paddy Sheaf’.

In the North, Returning Officer Md Abul Kasem announced results from 811 out of 1,318 polling stations.

Atiqul bagged 259,985 votes, according to the results from these centres .

His nearest rival the BNP’s Tabith Awal polled 159,368.

The voting was held exclusively using electronic machines from 8am to 4pm.

Dhaka South has a total of 2,453,194 voters while the number is 3,010,273 in the North.

CANDIDATES

All the mayor candidates – six in Dhaka North City Corporation and seven in the South – have been nominated by registered political parties and are therefore contesting in the elections with their party logos.

In total, 745 candidates are running for the 172 posts of general ward councillor and councillor of wards reserved for women with the support of the political parties or independently, but not with party symbols.

Atiqul, a businessman, is seeking re-election after a nine-month stint in the office following the death of Annisul Huq, the first mayor of the city corporation after the bifurcation.

The BNP’s Tabith is also a businessman-cum-politician. He had announced boycott halfway through voting in the 2015 elections alleging widespread irregularities, but this time he has vowed to battle it out until the end.

The other mayoral candidates in the North are Ahammed Sajjadul Haque from the Communist Party of Bangladesh with the symbol ‘Sickle', Shahin Khan from Progressive Democratic Party or PDP with the 'Tiger' symbol, Sheikh Md Fazle Bari Masud from the Islami Andolon Bangladesh with the ‘Winnowing-fan' symbol, and Md Anisur Rahman Dewan from the National People’s Party with the 'Mango' symbol.

In the South, both Taposh and Ishraque are new faces in the race.

Son of Fazlul Haque Mani, one of the key organisers of the Liberation War, Taposh is a lawyer and former MP.

Ishraque’s father late Sadeque Hossain Khoka was the last mayor of the undivided Dhaka City Corporation.

The commission has assigned the 'Plough' symbol to the Jatiya Party's Mohammed Saifuddin Milon, the 'Winnowing-fan' to the Islami Andolon's Md Abdur Rahman, the 'Mango' symbol to Bahrane Sultan Bahar, 'Coconut' to Md Akhtaruzzaman and 'Fish' to Abdus Samad from the Gonofront.