DHAKA: Jatiya Party-nominated mayoral candidate Mostafizur Rahman Mostafa has won the Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) polls by a wide margin.

The election to the Rangpur city was held on Thursday (December 21).

According to the unofficial results of the total 193 polling stations, Mostafa with the symbol ‘plough’ bagged (1,60489) votes, while his nearest rival contestant Awami League-nominated Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu with the symbol ‘boat’ polled (62,400).

On other hand, BNP-nominated candidate Kawsar Zaman Babla with the symbol ‘sheaf of paddy’ bagged (35,136) votes.

Returning Officer of the polls Subhash Chandra Sarkar declared the unofficial results of the polling stations.

The final results were collected from the polling centers and announced from the Control Room at the Police Community Hall in Rangpur city.

The voting in the the RCC ended at 4:00 pm peacefully. Election officials started counting the ballot paper after voting ended in 193 polling centers. The voting kicked off at 8:00 am and continued till 4:00 pm uninterruptedly.

Some 193 presiding officers, 1,122 assistant presiding officers and 2,244 polling officers performed duty in all the 193 polling centers in the RCC area. Rangpur City Corporation currently has 393,994 voters; of them 1, 96,356 male and 1, 97,638 female.

The polls to the Rangpur city was held amid festivity as the major political parties took part in the polls.

Seven contested for the mayoral posts. Alongside the three candidates of  Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party, the four other mayor candidates are- Selim Akhter of National Peoples Party (mango), ATM Golam Mostafa of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (hand fan), Abdul Kuddus of BSD (ladder) and independent candidate Hossain Mokbul Shahriar (elephant).

Meanwhile, some 276 other candidates contested for the councilor post and post for reserved seat. Among them, some 211 candidates contested for 33 general councilor posts, while 65 candidates for 11 reserved women councilor posts.

The mayoral candidates of three major political parties cast their votes in different polling centers. Mostafizur Rahman Mostafa cast his vote at Alamnagar Government Primary School centre, while Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu cast his vote at Guptopara Salema Girls High School centre and Kawsar Zaman Babla at Mahiganj Dewandigi Government Primary School centre. All of them cast their votes in the morning.

More than 5,500 members of law enforcers, including police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Ansar-VDP, were deployed in Rangpur for the election purpose. Some 33 mobile courts also worked during polls.

The Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) was used in the city polls in only a polling centre. This is the first time that the voters of the city cast votes using the EVM system.

Under the current Election Commission headed by KM Nurul Huda, this election is the second major polls after Comilla City Corporation election held in March last.

During the voting, BNP accused the ruling party men of driving out their mayoral candidate's polling agents from different centers. The party expressed their doubt about the neutral election in the Rangpur city.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed made the allegation at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka.

He alleged that their mayoral candidate Kawsar Zaman Babla was obstructed from visiting polling stations. He also criticized the Election Commission for its partial role.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda rejected the BNP’s allegation. “We have collected information from local level. Voters didn’t come up with any allegation. So, the allegation is not valid,” he told reporters in EC building at Agargaon in Dhaka.

He also expressed satisfaction over the overall atmosphere of the polls.

On the other hand, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad was staying in Rangpur city during polls. He cast his vote at Senpara Shishu Mongol Government Primary School centre.

After casting the vote, he had said that the RCC election is an acid test for the EC. The commission can prove their competency though the polls. He, however, was hopeful about victory of his party-nominated mayoral candidate.

Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu won the first mayoral polls in Rangpur in 2012, defeating his nearest rival Mostafa by 30,000 votes.

BDST: 0133 HRS, DEC 22, 2017

EHJ/SMS