Awami League candidate Atiqul Islam was unofficially declared elected in the by-election to the mayoral post of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) on Thursday.
He won the election by a huge margin of 7,86,873 votes, bagging 8,39,302 votes, while his nearest rival Shafin Ahmed of Jatiya Party polled only 52,429 in all 1,295 polling centres.
Returning Officer Abul Kashem announced the results at the result collection and announcement centre set up at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre around 1:30 am on Friday.
He said the overall voter turnout in the election was 31.05 per cent.
Earlier, voting in the by-election to the DNCC mayoral post and polls to councillor posts in its 18 new wards and 18 other new wards of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) concluded on Thursday afternoon amid low voter turnout.
The balloting that began at 8:00 am ended at 4:00 pm.
Atiqul Islam cast his vote at around 9:10 am at Nawab Habibullah Model School and College polling centre in the city’s Uttara area.
Singer Shafin Ahmed cast his vote at Manarat International School centre in the city’s Gulshan area at around 12:20 pm.
Visiting different polling stations, it was seen that the voter turnout was poor in the morning due to rains since early morning.
However, voter presence was relatively high in the elections to councillor posts in the new wards.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said the low voter turnout in the ongoing elections to the two city corporations is not the liability of the Commission.
“It's the responsibility of candidates and political parties to bring voters to polling centres,” he told reporters after casting his vote at IES School and College Polling Station in the city’s Uttara area.
In the DNCC, five candidates vied for the mayoral post, while 116, of whom one was already elected uncontested, for 18 general councillor posts and 45, for six reserved seats, UNB reported.
The three other mayoral candidates are NPP’s Anisur Rahman (Mango) and PDP’s Shahin Khan (Tiger) and independent runner Abdur Rahim (Table Clock).
The DNCC mayoral post fell vacant after Annisul Huq passed away on November 30, 2017. He had been elected mayor in the last mayoral election held on April 28, 2015.
In the DSCC, there were 125 contestants for 18 general councillor posts and 24 women for six reserved seats.