AL 8, BNP 4
Awami League loyalists swept the sixth phase upazila elections held on Monday, bagging eight chairman posts against BNP favourites’ four.
According to unofficial results, AL-backed chairman candidates won polls in Gangachhara and Sadar of Rangpur, Kamarkhand of Sirajganj, Taltali of Barguna, Kalukhali of Rajbari, Bijoynagar of Brahmanbaria and Adarsha Sadar and Sadar Dakkhin of Comilla.
BNP-backed candidates came out victorious in Kaunia and Pirgachha of Rangpur, Basail of Tangail and Sadar upazila of Gazipur.
Besides, a BNP-blessed chairman candidate won the by-polls in Tarakanda upazila of Mymensingh.
With this, AL-backed chairman candidates took their overall lead to 68 against BNP-supported ones in 471 upazilas out of the country’s 487 as AL’s total tally now stands at 230.
The total number of chairman pots BNP loyalists bagged is now 162 –- 44 in the first phase, 52 in the second phase, 28 in the third phase and 22 in the fourth phase, 12 in fifth phase and four in sixth phase.
Awami League’s favourites’ phase-wise break-up: 34 in the first phase, 47 in the second phase, 38 in the third phase, 52 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase and eight in the sixth phase.
BNP’s key ally Jamaat-backed candidates secured a total of 36 chairman posts in the five phases of the upazila polls while that of Jatiya Party (Ershad) three.
The third, fourth and fifth phases of the local body elections — 81 upazilas in the third phase, 91 upazilas in the fourth phase and 71 in the fifth phase — saw massive violence and anomalies that left six people dead.
On Monday, the voting in the 12 upazilas of eight districts was held amid stray incidents.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad claimed that the election was largely fair as per the overall situation.
The voting in only three polling stations out of 741 was postponed due to violence and stuffing, he told a press briefing at the EC media centre in the afternoon.
In a separate incident, a group of miscreants snatched 600 ballot papers from Subarnapur Government Primary School polling station in the same upazila around 10:00am and beat up its presiding officer with sticks as he resisted them from looting the ballots.
In Rangpur, police arrested a BNP-backed chairman candidate, Masud Rana, in Rangpur Sadar upazila for violating polls codes.
A total of 179 candidates contested the elections against 36 posts in the 12 upazilas.
There were 1,845,133 voters –915,087 males and 930,046 females– under 746 polling stations in the upazilas.
Source: UNB Connect
