1st phase of municipal polls: AL wins by significant margin

Awami League (AL) has won in the first phase of the municipal elections by a significant margin.

According to the results, unofficially declared after the end of voting on Monday, out of the 24 municipal elections held during the first phase, AL-nominated mayoral candidates won in 18 municipalities.

Independent candidates bagged mayoral posts in three municipalities, while BNP mayoral candidates won in two municipalities.

SM Asaduzzaman, public relations director of EC and also a joint secretary, said on Tuesday that 65.06% votes were cast in Monday's elections.

He said before the polls ended, a mayoral candidate of Khulna's Chalna municipality died at hospital while undergoing treatment. Later, the EC suspended the results of the mayoral post in that municipality.

"Voting took place on Monday from 8am to 4pm at a stretch. Electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used in all 24 municipalities," he added.

Three BNP candidates boycotted the election. A number of 6,24,807 people cast their vote in 319 polling stations of the 24 municipalities.

Winners from Awami Leaguewere as follows: Abul Imam Md Kamran Chowdhury in Baralekha municipality; Md Lokman Hossain in Bakerganj, Ramzan Ali in Manikganj, Md Kaziul Islam in Kurigram, Monir Akhter Khan Taru Lodi in Shahjadpur, Zakia Khatun in Panchagarh, ABM Golam Kabir in Betagi, GiyasuddinBepari in Uzirpur, Jahangir Alam Malik in Chuadanga, and Badiul Alam in Sitakunda.

Other AL winners were: Saiful Islam in Madan, Sakhawat Hossain in Chatmohar municipality of Pabna, Iqbal Hossain in Gafargaon, Abbas Ali in Katakhali, Golam in Dhamrai, Ahsanul Haque alias Tutul Chowdhury in Badarganj, Bishwajit Roy in Dirai municipality of Sunamganj and Tariqul Islam in Khoksa municipality of Kushtia.

BNP's MF Ahmed Oli and Al Mamun were elected from Habiganj's Shayestaganj and Rajshahi's Puthia municipalities respectively.

Independent winners were: Md Anwar Hawlader in Patuakhali's Kuakata municipality, Mahmud Alam Liton in Dinajpur's Fulbari and Ikramul Haque in Thakurgaon's Pirganj.

Despite BNP's voted rigging allegations, the EC termed the polls 'successful'.

In this election of party symbol, 16 of the Awami League's boat candidates, two of the BNP's paddy sheaf and three independent candidates have won the mayoral post.

According to the EC's public relations department, the highest 85.31% turnout was in Kuataka municipality in Patuakhali while the lowest 40.87% turnout was in Sitakunda municipality in Chattogram.

There were 6,12,570 voters in 23 municipalities. Of them, 3,97,000 ex3,97,000 exercised their franchise.