People of Narayanganj have given their mandate to Awami League nominee Selina Hayat Ivy to govern the city corporation for a third straight term in one of the most peaceful, participatory and incident-free elections that Bangladesh has ever seen.
The AL nominee with the boat symbol defeated her closest rival by over 66,835 votes, according to the unofficial results announced last night.
Ivy was elected after securing 159,397 votes against the 92,562 votes cast for her nearest contender and independent candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker, Returning Officer Mahfuza Akhter announced last night.
With the victory, Ivy remains the only mayor of the NCC, which was formed in 2011. Ivy, the first female mayor in Bangladesh, is also now the first to become the mayor of a city corporation for the third time in a row.
After the announcement of the unofficial results, Ivy said her victory in the election was a victory for the people of Narayanganj.
“I will work till my last breath for the people of Narayanganj,” she said.
Meanwhile, Taimur Alam Khandaker has conceded defeat.
Voters stamped ballots to select the mayor, nine reserved women councillors and 27 councillors between 8am and 4pm yesterday, with a festive atmosphere at almost all the centres. No significant irregularities were reported.
The voting took place at 192 polling centres in 27 wards.
During yesterday’s festive election, roads in Narayanganj were full of voters. Queues started to form at the polling centres from as early as 8am.
Many voters said they had never seen such a peaceful election in their life.
Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar, who has in the past vented his anger at most decisions by his colleagues at the Election Commission, said yesterday that there had been no significant clashes or unrest at the NCC elections.
“This election is the last city corporation election of our tenure. I would say this one and the Comilla City Corporation election were our two best,” he said while reading out a written statement at the Bangladesh Election Commission office in Agargaon yesterday evening.
The NCC polls were held in a free, fair and peaceful manner, Narayanganj-4 lawmaker Shamim Osman said yesterday, adding that it was a big achievement for the administration.
EVM slows voting
Although the election was peaceful and participatory, voters at most of the centres struggled to cast their votes by using electronic voting machines (EVMs).
There were reports of fingerprint mismatches and delays due to technical glitches. Long queues of voters were seen at many of the centres, with older voters facing more difficulties with the new system.
Some voters were seen waiting for up to four hours to cast their votes.
Ivy’s political career
Born in 1966, Dr Selina Hayat Ivy joined politics in her student life. She is the daughter of the reputed Ali Ahmed Chunka, the former Narayanganj Municipality Mayor.
In 1993, she became the health and environmental affairs secretary of the Narayanganj city unit of the ruling Awami League. In 2003, she contested the Narayanganj municipal chairman election and became the first female chairman in the city.
The NCC is the seventh-largest city corporation in Bangladesh. The corporation was formed by merging the old Narayanganj and Kadamrasul municipalities in 2011.
At the maiden NCC polls in 2011, Ivy, as an independent candidate, secured victory after beating ruling party candidate Shamim Osman by a margin of over 100,000 votes. In the second election in 2016, Ivy bagged 1,75, 611 votes against her nearest rival, the BNP's Shakhawat Hossain Khan, who got 96,044 votes.
She is also senior vice-president of Narayanganj City Awami League.
Dhaka Tribune reporters Marium Sultana, Nawaz Farhin Antara, Najifa Farhat, Ali Ashif Shawon, Ashif Islam Shaon and Mamun Abdullah contributed to this report.