Awami League-nominated mayoral candidate Selina Hayat Ivy has won the Narayanganj City Corporation election for the third consecutive term.
Ivy bagged 161,273 votes in 192 centres and independent candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker got 92,171 votes, according to news agencies.
Out of the 7 mayoral candidates, Ivy contested the election with the "Boat" symbol while Taimur Alam with the “Elephant” symbol.
Ivy, also the country’s first female city mayor, secured the landslide victory by defeating Taimur with a margin of 69, 102 votes on Sunday.
According to UNB, Returning Officer Mahfuza Akter announced the results unofficially when the vote counting was completed. With the latest victory, Ivy is the first city mayor to win the polls for the third consecutive term.
Ivy was previously elected twice -- as an independent candidate in 2011 when she became the first woman to be elected as mayor in the country, before reelection as the ruling Awami League candidate in 2016.
The voting started at 8 am and ended at 4 pm. However, the voting continued after 4 pm due to the slow pace of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and the presence of voters in some centres of Bandar Upazila.
Narayanganj’s Deputy Commissioner Mostain Billah said the voting took place almost peacefully, even though it may have lagged a bit behind due to the voter’s inexperience with the electronic voting machine.
Ivy cast her ballot at Deobhog Kalarab polling centre around 9:30 am while Taimur at Masdair Islamia Fazil Madrasah around 10 am.
Both of them expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of EVM.
Joint Secretary of Election Commission SM Asaduzzaman said seven candidates contested for the post of the NCC mayor, 148 candidates for 27 ward councillors post while 38 women for conserved seats for women.
This time the number of enlisted voters was 517,357, including 257,519 women and 42,418 first-timers.
