Atiqul elected mayor of Dhaka north, gazette next week

The final results of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayoral by-polls have been announced, with Awami League candidate Atiqul Islam securing a landslide victory.

Atiqul earned 839,302 votes in a total 1,295 polling centres, while closest rival Jatiya Party candidate Shafin Ahmed received 52,429 votes.

Returning Officer Abul Kasem announced the results at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on Friday afternoon.

“The gazette on the election result will be published next week. We can send the final result to the Local Government Division after publication of the gazette,” he said.

EC satisfied with DNCC polls

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda has expressed his satisfaction with the DNCC mayoral by-polls and elections to councillor posts of new wards of both DNCC and DSCC, despite low voter turnout.

“Everyone’s voting right has been completely restored. We created opportunities for everyone to vote. The voter turnout on election day is not the real scenario of voting in Bangladesh,” he said.

Also Read- Why was the voter turnout so low at the city polls?

The CEC made the comments during a rally on Friday. The rally began at the South Plaza of National Parliament and ended at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

When asked about the reasons for the low voter turnout, the CEC said: “I think there are three main reasons for the low voter turnout. First, this mayoral by-poll is valid for a shortened term. Second, the the main opposition party did not participate. Third, there was plenty of rain on election day, so people were reluctant to leave their homes.”

A total of 382 mayor, councillor, and reserved women councillor candidates participated in the Thursday’s elections, including five candidates who contested the post of DNCC mayor.

The candidates for DNCC mayor were Awami League candidate Atiqul Islam, Jatiya Party’s (JaPa) Shafin Ahmed, National People’s Party’s (NPP) Anisur Rahman Dewan, People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Shahin Khan, and independent candidate Abdur Rahim.