In stark contrast to the recent local government elections across the country, there were no major disturbances, nor any significant clash of candidates in Narayanganj.
Instead, the closely-watched city corporation election came to an end on Sunday in an orderly fashion.
Polls opened at 192 centres across the city at 8 am and closed at 4 pm. It was also the first time that the entirety of the vote was conducted on electronic voting machines (EVMs), reports bdnews24.com.
Many expressed delight at the ease with which votes could be registered on the devices, but several others, particularly the elderly, faced difficulties in getting them to recognise their fingerprints. These issues led to a slow pace of voting, despite the festive air across the city.
The city on the banks of the Sitalakshya River is home to nearly 525,000 voters. However, it is unclear how many turned out for the polls.
“We went to a number of centres and spoke to the people there,” said Mahfuza Akhtar, the returning officer of the election, following her inspection.
“A good number of ballots have been cast in the first four hours. The turnout is good.”
The election official was, however, reluctant to offer any estimates of the turnout. She did, however, express the hope that the turnout would be ‘quite good’ by the end of the day.
Deputy Commissioner Mostain Billah said that he received word that the turnout was 30-35 percent as of noon.
In 2011, during the first Narayanganj City Corporation election, the voter turnout was 69 percent. The turnout dropped in 2016 to 62.33 percent.
