The counting of votes in the Gazipur City Corporation is underway after peaceful election amid both enthusiasm and tension.
The counting started half an hour after the voting concluded at 4pm without any break from 8 am.
Returning Officer Matiar Rahman told journalists that 55 percent votes were cast till 3 pm.
The Gazipur City Corporation was formed on January 7 while the schedule for the polls declared on May 22 last.
While visiting some polling centers, UNB correspondents found the voters standing in long queues to elect their first city mayor.
Awami League led 14-party supported candidate Ajmat Ullah said that the voting was held in a free and fair manner.
The BNP-led 18 –party-supported candidate MA Mannan said though the voting was held peacefully in the morning but the situation started changing at noon.
He also alleged that the ruling party men were trying to influence the voters.
Meanwhile, a delegation of BNP, led by its standing committee member MK Anwar, went to the Election Commission and lodged complaints of various irregularities in the election.
No major incident was reported during the election.
A scuffle took place between the supporters of Ajmat and Hannan at Government Girl’s College polling center at 11 am. Later, police brought the situation under control.
A polling agent of Ajmat was sacked when he was persuading voters to cast their votes for Ajmat at the city’s Ashraf Textile Mills centre in Tongi ward No.57.
On the wake of allegation from other polling agents, Presiding officer of the polling center Zobair Akand sacked the polling agent named Kazi Shakir Shithil.
Seven mayoral candidates — 14-party-supported Ajmat Ullah Khan, 18-party-blessed MA Mannan, Mezbah Uddin Sarker, Aman Ullah, Rina Sultana, Jahangir Alam and Nazim Uddin Ahmed — are vying for the mayoral post. Later Jahangir stayed off from the race and extended support to Ajmat.
The real battle of ballot is expected to be between Ajmat Ullah Khan and MA Mannan as are enjoying the blessings of the two main political alliances.
A total of 466 candidates are contesting the polls for the posts of councillor in addition to 126 councillor posts reserved for women.
A total of 1,026,964 voters — 499,181 men and 527,783 women — are expected to exercise their franchise to elect the city’s first mayor as well as 57 councillors and 19 women councillors (reserved).
The EC declared 235 of the centres as vulnerable and taken special security measures for those.
Some 12,000 members of different law enforcement agencies deployed in the election areas to ensure free and fair balloting.
Apart from police, 19 teams of the Striking Force each with an executive magistrate, 28 teams of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and 12 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) also deployed in the election areas.
There were 57 police teams in 57 wards in addition to 10 judicial magistrates to take action in case of violation of the election code of conduct.
Earlier, after casting their votes, the two main contenders for the mayoral post — ruling Awami League led 14-party supported candidate Ajmat Ullah and BNP led 18 –party supported candidate MA Mannan — expressed their strong hope to win the maiden polls in the country’s largest city corporation.
Source: UNBConnect
