Staff Reporter
Awami League candidates Atiqul Islam and Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh were leading in the mayoral race huge margin in the Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations elections that were marked by low voter turnout, stray incidents and technical glitch in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Atiqul Islam with ‘Boat’ symbol bagged 259,985 votes while his nearest contender Tabith Awal of BNP polled 1,59,361 in 811 centres out of 1,318 with the symbol of ‘Sheaf of Paddy’.
Besides, AL mayoral runner Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh bagged 399,695 votes while BNP’s Israque Hossain polled 219,027 in 1075 centres out of 1,150 in Dhaka South City Corporations.
The voting in the Dhaka City Corporations polls began at 8:00am and continued till 4pm without any break at 2,468 centres with the full use of Electric Voting Machine (EVM) amid tight security measures.
Outside every polling centres, there were hundreds of ruling party-men but no one from the
opposition party (BNP) was visible, according to field reports by our correspondents.
Only polling agents of ‘Boat’ symbol were found present at the polling booths whereas no polling agent of ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ was found there.
Later, BNP mayoral candidates Tabith and Israque alleged that ruling party-men forced the polling agents of the ‘Sheaf of Paddy’ out of the centres.
The opposition candidates also said they have collected a number of evidences of voting irregularities.
About the low turnout of voters, Israque said people have lost their interests in voting due to irregularities in the previous elections. “Voters may think their votes have no value and that’s why they are not coming to the polling stations,”
During a visit by our Correspondent at the Willes Little Flower School centre it was found that only 11 people exercised their franchises at booth-2 until 10am though the total number of voters registered at the centre is 1,684.
“The voter turnout is not even one percent,” said Assistant Presiding Officer Sadhon Kumar at the centre.
Presiding Officer at the Dhaka University Laboratory School polling centre Abdul Motaleb said that only three votes were cast till 9:40am, nearly two hours.
Similar picture was also found at most of other centres in the city.
After casting his vote at Manarat International School and College in Dhaka BNP mayoral candidate Tabith said, “Presence of voters today is lower than any other time of voting, indicating people are unhappy with the way elections is being held this.”
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda said the voter turnover for the Dhaka North and Dhaka South City Corporations elections was not over 30 percent.
“The elections were fair and good, but I do not know about percentage [turnover], but I expect it will be below 30 per cent,” he said while talking to reporters at the EC Secretariat in Dhaka after the voting of the two city corporation elections concluded.
Through the elections, voters are to elect two mayors, 127 councillors, and 41 quota-allocated women councillors for Dhaka North and South city corporations. Four AL-backed councillors — two general ward councillors and two quota-allocated Women Councillors — were elected unopposed in DSCC.
About 58 lakh voters–30,35,621 in DNCC and 27,67,488 in DSCC–were supposed to exercise their franchise on Saturday’s Dhaka City Corporations polls.
A total of 13 mayoral candidates — six in the Dhaka north and seven in south city corporations -contested in the polls.
Four AL-backed councillors — two general ward councillors and two quota-allocated women councillors — were elected unopposed in DSCC.
Apart from two mayors, the voters are also likely to elect 127 councillors, including quota allocated Women councillors for the Dhaka City Corporations.
Meanwhile, the followers of Awami League-backed councillor aspirant Minu reportedly vandalised the polling booth of rebel candidate in Gendaria High School on Saturday morning. Moreover, they took away the cards of the polling agents and drove them out of Faridabad High School.
“There were problems between supporters of the two candidates. But we have removed everyone and the situation is under control,” said Gendaria Police Sub Inspector Abdullah Al Mamun.
In another untoward incident, the supporters of AL-backed Abul Kasem assaulted the supporters of the rebel candidate in Adabor’s Ward No.30. Similar clashes were reported between the supporters of AL’s Kadam Ali and the rebel candidate.
Supporters of Awami League and BNP clashed at Ward 27, Bakshibazar Government Primary School where at least eight crude bombs went off. Voting at the centre was temporarily halted.
Besides, seven on duty journalists were severely injured after being attacked by-ruling party-men at different areas during the polls.
Blasts were reported the main branch of Monipur High School in Pirerbagh of Mirpur around 7:30am, Ashraf High School around 8am and Uttar Kafrul High School around 7:45am.
BNP’s Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) candidate Tabith Awal’s main polls agent Moazzem Hossain Alal came under a bomb attack in Monipur on Saturday morning.
A group of miscreants hurled five bombs at his vehicle when he was visiting Monipur High School and College (Branch-2) in Ibrahimpur area around noon, said Mahmud Hasan, the media coordinator of Tabith.
At Dhaka University, a man was assaulted reportedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists near the Curzon Hall on Dhaka University campus in the morning after he voted for BNP candidates.
It also reportedly found “artificial queues” at different polling centres to show high voter turnout in the polls.
At the Dhaka University Laboratory School polling centre, supporters of AL mayoral candidate for Dhaka South City Corporation Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh formed a false queue, according to media reports.
At Adarsha High School in Mirpur-10, supporters of AL mayoral candidate for Dhaka North City Corporation Election Atiqul Islam also created an artificial queue by locking the polling centre’s gate.
Presiding Officer at the Dhaka University Laboratory School polling centre Abdul Motaleb said that only three votes were cast till 9:40am, nearly two hours.
On the other hand, many senior voters at different polling stations including Dhaka College and Udayan Uchcha Madhyamik Bidyalaya have been unable to cast their votes, as the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) could not read their fingerprints.
One Zaheda Khatun, 62, was found struggling to cast their votes in EVM at polling stations of Dhaka College. She took several attempts to get match her fingerprint, but every time the EVM denied it.
On duty assitant presiding officer registered her vote by exercising one per cent quota of the election official.
The Presiding Officer of the polling centre confirmed that the elderly voters were having trouble with fingerprints on the voting machine.
