Over 1,000 aspirants, including 14 mayoral candidates, have filed nominations to contest elections to Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) slated for January 30 as the deadline for nomination submission expired on Tuesday afternoon. Seven candidates will vie for the mayoral post in DSCC and DNCC each.
Four mayoral front runners from two major political parties – Awami League and BNP – submitted their nomination papers on Tuesday, the last day of the nomination submission.
Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh as AL candidate and Ishraque Hossain as BNP contender submitted their candidatures for the DSCC mayoral post, while incumbent mayor Atiqul Islam as AL contestant and Tabith Awal as BNP candidate submitted nomination papers to run for the DNCC mayoral post.
The date for scrutinising nomination papers is January 2 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 9, according to the election schedule.
The five other DSCC mayoral aspirants are Mohammad Saifuddin (Jatiya Party), Maulana Abdur Rahman (Islami Andolan), Bahrane Sultan Bahar (NPP), Akteruzzaman alias Ayatullah (Bangladesh Congress) and Abdus Samad Sujan (Gano Front).
The five other DNCC mayoral aspirants are GM Kamrul Islam (Jatiya Party), Ahammad Sazedul Haque (CPB), Shahin Khan (PDP), Fazle Bari Masud (Islami Andolan) and Anisur Rahman Dewan (NPP).
Over 1,000 aspirants submitted nomination papers to run for total 178 councillor posts in the two city elections, according to the statistics of the offices of two returning officers.
Of them, 569 hopefuls submitted nomination papers in DSCC while 470 in DNCC.
In the DSCC election, part from the seven mayoral aspirants, 460 fielded candidature for against 75 general councillor and 102 against 25 reserved seats for women.
In the DNCC election, 374 submitted nomination papers for 54 general councillor and 89 for 18 reserved seats.
The entire elections will be held using electronic voting machines (EVMs) instead of traditional ballot papers and two army personnel will be there in every polling station to safeguard the voting machines.
On December 22 last, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda announced the election schedules for the two city corporations in the capital.
In the upcoming January-30 elections, some 58 lakh people –3,035,621 in DNCC and 2,767,488 in DSCC– will have the opportunity to exercise their franchise under the two cities. The number of possible polling stations is 1,349 under 54 wards in the DNCC election, while 1,124 under 75 wards in the DSCC polls.
The last elections to both the city corporations of the capital were held on April 28, 2015.
