AL councillor candidates also dominate Barishal, Khulna polls
Awami League-leaning councillor candidates displayed a clear dominance in the Barishal and Khulna city polls held on Monday, following the triumph of the ruling party in mayoral positions.
AL councillor candidates claimed victory in 30 out of 40 posts in the Barishal City Corporation (BCC) elections, while they secured 40 out of 41 positions in Khulna City Corporation (KCC) polls.
The BCC recorded 51.46% voter turnout and the KCC 47.88%, according to the Election Commission. AL candidates Abul Khair Abdullah and Talukder Abdul Khaleque became mayors in Barishal and Khulna, respectively.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Although the councillor position is non-partisan in nature, many voters look at the political affiliation of candidates, among other factors, in choosing their councillors.
Barishal polls
A total of 167 candidates contested the Barishal City Corporation polls for one mayoral, 30 general ward councillors, and 10 reserved women councillor positions.
Of them, 7 were mayoral candidates, while 118 contested for counsellors and 42 for women ward councillors.
An analysis of the election result announced on Monday night shows that the 30 elected councillors, leaning toward the Awami League, are followers of Mayor Abul Khair Abdullah and former mayor Sadiq Abdullah.
Besides, nine came from the BNP supporters, while the opposition party-supporting candidates were 19. One out of four from the Jamaat-e-Islami also got the victory.
Polling was held in 126 centres where 1,42,177 people voted. There were 1,146 CCTV cameras for monitoring.
Khulna polls
In the Khulna City Corporation election, 136 candidates contested for 31 general ward councillor positions and 39 for 10 reserved women councillor positions.
Of them, 11 councillor candidates were from the BNP but none of them were elected. Out of four Jamat candidates, one became a councillor.
On Monday, some 2,56,433 voters cast their vote at 289 centres. The total number of voters in the city is 5,35,529. Electronic Voting Machines were used in all the centres for the first time.
