After a hard-fought battle with Awami League-nominated Azmat Ullah Khan, Zayeda Khatun, an independent candidate and mother of former mayor Jahangir Alam, has triumphed in the mayoral race of the Gazipur City Corporation in a competitive and peaceful election.
Zayeda Khatun bagged 238,934 while Azmat Ullah got 222,737 in Thursday's close-fought election, Returning Officer Faridul Islam announced at 1:30am on Friday.
After casting his own vote, Azmat Ullah seemed confident and told the reporters that he was optimistic about winning this election.
On the other hand, Zayeda Khatun said the election was conducted in a fair manner. Before the election, she sought deployment of troops during the election and wrote to foreign missions operating in Bangladesh seeking their assistance to hold a fair election.
Meanwhile, Islami Andolon Bangladesh candidate Gazi Ataur Rahman got 45,352 votes, independent candidate Sarker Shahnur Islam 23,265 votes, the Gono Front's Atiqul Islam 16,974 votes, the Jatiya Party's MM Niazuddin 16,362 votes, the Zaker Party's Md Raju Ahmed 7,206 votes and independent candidate Md Harun or Rashid bagged 2,426 votes.
The Election Commission and observers said the polls were conducted smoothly in a peaceful and festive manner, with a 48.75% voter turnout.
No incident of violence was reported from any centre of Gazipur.
The only allegation of a violation of the electoral code related to the illegal entry of two voters into the secret ballot room and their attempts to influence voting. They were detained by the police as per instructions of the EC.
While monitoring the GCC polls from Dhaka's Agargaon, the EC officials found that the two men were trying to influence voters. The magistrate concerned detained Abu Taher for three days for the offence.
Of the six other candidates, Islami Andolon Bangladesh's Gazi Ataur Rahman bagged 45,352 votes, independent candidate Sarker Shahnur Islam Rony got 23,265 votes, Gano Front's Atiqul Islam 16,974 votes, Jatiya Party's MM Niazuddin 16,362 votes, Zaker Party's Md Raju Ahmed 7,206 votes and independent candidate Md Harun-or-Rashid got 2,426 votes.
Opposition BNP did not field any candidates for the mayoral race and urged voters to boycott the election.
Jahangir's proxy
Zayeda Khatun was originally not in contention, but the 70-year-old entered the race when her son learned that he would not get the party ticket. Zayeda Khatun's strength was in the development work her son undertook when he was mayor.
People of GCC have been saying “Ammajan” of Jahangir has now turned into a “Khalamma” of the people of Gazipur because, during the election campaign, Jahangir and his supporters used to play the famous Bengali movie song “Ammajan” at random.
Locals said this result shows the people's sentiments and a silent protest against the ruling party Awami League's decision.
Jahangir Alam also submitted his nomination paper for the mayoral race but it was cancelled by the Election Commission over a defaulted loan. Then he was expelled from the Awami League for life for defying the party's decision.
Jahangir was also summoned by the Anti-Corruption Commission, which created sympathy for him among general voters, locals said.
The Awami League party nominated Azmat Ullah, a member of the party's central working committee. He was elected chairman of Tongi Municipality in his early career.
In 2013, when the GCC was formed, the Awami League nominated Azmat Ullah but he was defeated. Jahangir Alam contested the election as a rebel candidate. BNP mayoral candidate MA Mannan became the first mayor of the city corporation.
No violence
Voting began at 8am, with the opening of polling stations across 480 centres. The city witnessed a festive atmosphere with long queues of enthusiastic voters seen outside the polling centres since the early hours. Female voter turnout was particularly noted to be higher than that of males.
As the day progressed, queues at every centre became even longer, highlighting the democratic spirit of Gazipur's citizens.
In some centres, the voting time was extended till 6pm due to the delay in casting votes.
The EC installed over 5,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the polls. Notably, no complaints were lodged regarding the use of these machines. There was a few minutes' glitch, though, in an EVM machine at ward number 57, where Awami League Candidate Azmat Ullah cast his vote in the morning.
Two technical experts were stationed at each polling centre, ensuring that any potential technical glitches with the EVMs could be swiftly rectified.
The EC installed 4,435 CCTV cameras in the election and monitored activities from its headquarters in Dhaka.
The election was closely monitored by Election Commissioners Brigadier General (retired) Ahsan Habib Khan, Md Alamgir, Rashida Sultana, and Anisur Rahman from a central control room. They reported that voting was disciplined and peaceful.
To ensure peaceful elections, a robust security detail was deployed. This included 57 executive magistrates stationed across the 57 wards and an active presence of various law enforcement agencies, such as the police, Ansar and village police, the Armed Police Battalion (APBn), Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
To bolster security further, 30 RAB teams, 13 BGB platoons, 19 striking teams, and 57 mobile police teams were also deployed in the GCC area.
BNP's stance
The BNP also expelled 29 leaders for participating in the election as councillor candidates in defiance of the party's decision.
“In line with the provisions of the BNP's constitution, you have been expelled for life from all positions, including the primary membership of the party, for showing such contempt and arrogance towards the party's decisions and directives,” reads a letter issued by the party on May 16.
The central BNP did not take any actino against mayoral candidate Shahnur Rony since he does not hold any position in the party or its affiliated bodies.
However, Rohy got some support from local BNP supporters since he is the son of BNP leader Nurul Islam Sarkar and nephew of Metropolitan BNP President Hasan Uddin Sarkar. A former youth affairs secretary of the central BNP, Nurul Islam was sentenced to death in Ahsan Ullah Master murder case.
After submitting his nomination paper, Rony told reporters: "Everyone in my family is a BNP supporter. My uncle Hasan Uddin Sarkar is the founder of Gazipur unit BNP. My father has been in jail for 18 years as a victim of revenge for supporting the BNP."
He further said: "I became an independent candidate as per the wish of family members and common people to continue the development work of my father and my uncle. I have the support of the BNP even though I am participating as an independent candidate."