Polling in Narayanganj City Corporation election begins

Narayanganj City Corporation.

Voting at 192 polling stations began at 8am on Sunday and voters started queuing on a winter morning. Polling will close at 4pm.The voting is being held fully using electronic voting machines or EVMs for the first time in the city,

The third Narayanganj City Corporation elections is being held on Sunday amid a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. The Awami League and candidates from four other parties and two independents are contesting the mayoral race.

Salina Hayat Ivy, who won two consecutive mayoral races in the previous two polls, is running again. Taimur Alam Khandaker, a BNP leader who went against the party’s decision to boycott the polls is running as an independent candidate. The contest between the two has stirred interest in several quarters, but it has lacked the intensity of previous elections.

The polls are also the last for the much-criticised KM Nurul Huda-led Election Commission, which hopes to see out its term with a free and fair election.

The first city corporation election was held in 2011.

In the second election in 2016, EVMs were used citywide, but votes were also cast on ballot paper.

The first election did not involve political parties, but parties began fielding candidates for the mayor’s seat from the second election.

The KM Nurul Huda-led Election Commission announced the schedule for the polls on Nov 30.

Dec 15 was the deadline for the submission of nomination papers to the returning officer. The applications were scrutinised starting Dec 20 and the last date for a candidate to withdraw was Dec 27. On Dec 28, the candidates were assigned their election symbols and allowed to start their campaign.

The Election Commission has approved 42 members of nine registered election observers to oversee the polls.

Election observers will be present in the vote-counting room and the returning officer’s office when votes are consolidated.

In addition to these observers, some 1,000 local and national journalists will be covering the election.

The first Narayanganj City Corporation election was held on Oct 30, 2011. Shamim Osman, the ruling party-backed former member of parliament, lost to city Awami League Vice President Salina Hayat Ivy by over 100,000 votes.

The second city corporation election was held on Dec 22, 2016, and was the first to be contested by party candidates. The Awami League’s Salina Hayat Ivy was re-elected as mayor beating BNP candidate Sakhawat Hossain Khan by about 75,000 votes. – News Desk