Staff Reporter :
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) go to elections today (Saturday).
There are 13 mayoral candidates — six in the DNCC and seven in the DSCC — in the election race.
The entire election 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.
The capital turned into a city of processions on Thursday as both mayoral and councillor candidates staged last moment showdowns to demonstrate their popularity since the curtain is set to fall on electioneering of the two Dhaka city corporations on Thursday midnight.
The campaign will ended at 12 in the night, 36 hours before the voting, as per the Representation of the People Order (RPO) 1972.
The aspirants passed busy time throughout the day to reach out to voters and woo them during the last-minute campaign. They also made lofty promises to fulfill the voters’ various demands if they are elected as
their last-minute strategy to convince voters.
Returning officers of both Dhaka north and south city corporations have been distributing election materials, including Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), a day before the city elections are to be held on Saturday.
The returning officers handed over the polls materials to the respective presiding officers of the voting centres at Dhaka Residential Model School and College at Mohammadpur and Khilgaon Model College respectively.
The presiding officers along with law enforcers gathered at the venues since 8:00am and took away the polling materials for their centres by buses.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda visited the venue of Dhaka Residential Model School and College after the distribution started on Friday morning.
There are a total of 2,468 polling centres in both Dhaka north and south city corporations.
The voting in today’s city elections will start around 8:00am and continue till 4:00pm without any break.
According to the EC, the two city corporations have over 54.02 lakh voters — 30.35 lakh in DNCC and 23.67 lakh in DSCC — to cast their votes in the elections.
Along with electing the mayors, DNCC voters will also elect 54 ward councillors and 18 reserved women councillors while DSCC voters will elect 75 ward councillors and 25 reserved women councillors.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has completed all preparations, including the maintenance of law and order situation at the election.
Some 50,000 members of different law enforcing agencies have been assigned duties for the election. As part of tightening security measures, 65 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed on Thursday morning.
BGB spokesperson Shariful Islam said that another 10 platoons of BGB members had been kept ready and would be deployed if needed.
Other than paramilitary personnel, members of police, Rapid Action Battalion, Armed Police Battalion and Ansar would also be deployed around Dhaka soon, sources at the Election Commission said.
The last elections to both the Dhaka city corporations were held on April 28, 2015.
Awami League candidate in DNCC Atiqul Islam carried out campaign at Bhasantek slum on Thursday noon. He made door-to-door visits and distributed leaflets and sought vote for himself.
He also spoke at a street rally where he assured the slum dwellers that no-one would be evicted without rehabilitation if he is elected. “If I get elected, I promise you that I’ll carry out development of this area taking all together.”
Later, Atiqul conducted electioneering in Natun Bazar area. Ruling party contestant in DSCC Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh conducted campaign in Gopibagh area in the morning while his rival candidate from BNP Ishraque Hossain conducted electioneering in the area in the afternoon. DNCC BNP mayoral runner Tabith Awal was also busy campaigning in different areas.
He exchanged views with journalists from different media, Dhaka Union of Journalists and Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) at the Jatiya Press Club Friday morning while with Dhaka Reporters Unity and Bangladesh Photojournalists’ Association in the afternoon.
Later, he attended several street rallies and processions in several areas, including Moghbazar, Karwanbazar and Mohammadpur, in the afternoon.
Despite the EC’s organising mock voting through using electronic voting machines (EVMs) at all polling centres from 12noon to 7pm on Thursday, the response was very poor. Worryingly, many of the centres did not even have a single voter.
“Some voters came with their NIDs, but none of them matched with the machine. We guess they were voters of a nearby centre,” said Sakline Hossain, assistant presiding officer at the Udayan High School centre.
“Only one voter came to this polling center till 4:00pm,” said Anisur Rahman, presiding officer at the New Model Degree College centre.
Many voters claimed that they had no idea of EVMs.
“Though I have no idea (about the machines), I’m confident that I will be able to cast my vote smoothly,” said Arifa Sultana. Besides, it imposed a ban on the movement of motorcycles for 54 hours and motorised vehicles for 18 hours in the capital for the city elections.
The restrictions on the plying of motorbikes are set to come into effect on Thursday midnight and that for motorised vehicles will be effective from Friday midnight in the election areas.
However, the motorbikes and vehicles with EC’s stickers, vehicles of emergency services, including ambulance, fire service and postal department, will remain out of the ban purview.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) go to elections today (Saturday).
There are 13 mayoral candidates — six in the DNCC and seven in the DSCC — in the election race.
The entire election 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.
The capital turned into a city of processions on Thursday as both mayoral and councillor candidates staged last moment showdowns to demonstrate their popularity since the curtain is set to fall on electioneering of the two Dhaka city corporations on Thursday midnight.
The campaign will ended at 12 in the night, 36 hours before the voting, as per the Representation of the People Order (RPO) 1972.
The aspirants passed busy time throughout the day to reach out to voters and woo them during the last-minute campaign. They also made lofty promises to fulfill the voters’ various demands if they are elected as
their last-minute strategy to convince voters.
Returning officers of both Dhaka north and south city corporations have been distributing election materials, including Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), a day before the city elections are to be held on Saturday.
The returning officers handed over the polls materials to the respective presiding officers of the voting centres at Dhaka Residential Model School and College at Mohammadpur and Khilgaon Model College respectively.
The presiding officers along with law enforcers gathered at the venues since 8:00am and took away the polling materials for their centres by buses.
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda visited the venue of Dhaka Residential Model School and College after the distribution started on Friday morning.
There are a total of 2,468 polling centres in both Dhaka north and south city corporations.
The voting in today’s city elections will start around 8:00am and continue till 4:00pm without any break.
According to the EC, the two city corporations have over 54.02 lakh voters — 30.35 lakh in DNCC and 23.67 lakh in DSCC — to cast their votes in the elections.
Along with electing the mayors, DNCC voters will also elect 54 ward councillors and 18 reserved women councillors while DSCC voters will elect 75 ward councillors and 25 reserved women councillors.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has completed all preparations, including the maintenance of law and order situation at the election.
Some 50,000 members of different law enforcing agencies have been assigned duties for the election. As part of tightening security measures, 65 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed on Thursday morning.
BGB spokesperson Shariful Islam said that another 10 platoons of BGB members had been kept ready and would be deployed if needed.
Other than paramilitary personnel, members of police, Rapid Action Battalion, Armed Police Battalion and Ansar would also be deployed around Dhaka soon, sources at the Election Commission said.
The last elections to both the Dhaka city corporations were held on April 28, 2015.
Awami League candidate in DNCC Atiqul Islam carried out campaign at Bhasantek slum on Thursday noon. He made door-to-door visits and distributed leaflets and sought vote for himself.
He also spoke at a street rally where he assured the slum dwellers that no-one would be evicted without rehabilitation if he is elected. “If I get elected, I promise you that I’ll carry out development of this area taking all together.”
Later, Atiqul conducted electioneering in Natun Bazar area. Ruling party contestant in DSCC Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh conducted campaign in Gopibagh area in the morning while his rival candidate from BNP Ishraque Hossain conducted electioneering in the area in the afternoon. DNCC BNP mayoral runner Tabith Awal was also busy campaigning in different areas.
He exchanged views with journalists from different media, Dhaka Union of Journalists and Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) at the Jatiya Press Club Friday morning while with Dhaka Reporters Unity and Bangladesh Photojournalists’ Association in the afternoon.
Later, he attended several street rallies and processions in several areas, including Moghbazar, Karwanbazar and Mohammadpur, in the afternoon.
Despite the EC’s organising mock voting through using electronic voting machines (EVMs) at all polling centres from 12noon to 7pm on Thursday, the response was very poor. Worryingly, many of the centres did not even have a single voter.
“Some voters came with their NIDs, but none of them matched with the machine. We guess they were voters of a nearby centre,” said Sakline Hossain, assistant presiding officer at the Udayan High School centre.
“Only one voter came to this polling center till 4:00pm,” said Anisur Rahman, presiding officer at the New Model Degree College centre.
Many voters claimed that they had no idea of EVMs.
“Though I have no idea (about the machines), I’m confident that I will be able to cast my vote smoothly,” said Arifa Sultana. Besides, it imposed a ban on the movement of motorcycles for 54 hours and motorised vehicles for 18 hours in the capital for the city elections.
The restrictions on the plying of motorbikes are set to come into effect on Thursday midnight and that for motorised vehicles will be effective from Friday midnight in the election areas.
However, the motorbikes and vehicles with EC’s stickers, vehicles of emergency services, including ambulance, fire service and postal department, will remain out of the ban purview.
