Awami League mayoral candidate Arfanul Haque Rifat got the highest number of votes in the Comilla City Corporation (COCC) elections on Wednesday to secure victory over main rival and former BNP leader Monirul Haque Sakku in a tight battle--by a margin of 343 votes.
According to the results announced by Returning Officer Shahedunnabi Chowdhury, Rifat bagged 50,310 votes for the “boat” symbol. His closest rival, Sakku, secured 49,967 votes with the “table clock” symbol.
Mohammad Nizamuddin Kaiser, another independent candidate and former BNP leader, bagged 29,099 votes with the "horse" symbol.
This is the first time an Awami League candidate has secured the mayor post in Comilla. Outgoing mayor Sakku won the first two mayoral elections since the city corporation was formed in 2011.
This year’s election was also the first for the new Election Commission that was constituted under a newly-minted law earlier this year.
The last Comilla city election was held on March 30, 2017. Sakku ended his second tenure on May 16.
Sakku refuses to accept results
In a quick response after the result declaration, Rifat said: “This victory is a victory for the boat.” He thanked Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and the voters.
Defeated candidate Sakku refused to accept the final result and said he would go to court.
Sakku came to the Shilpakala academy at around 9pm to learn the polling results. At the time, the results of 101 polling centres were announced and Sakku was leading by 729 votes with 48,492 against Rifat’s 47,863.
Violence erupts at Comilla City Corporation election results collection and distribution centre on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka TribuneFollowing the announcement, supporters of Rifat and Sakku had a confrontation inside the auditorium. Police charged batons to control the situation.
Once the order was restored, Sakku said: “I will not leave this place without knowing the result.”
He urged the Election Commission to declare the rest of the results, as only four polling centres were yet to be declared at that time.
Responding to this call, the returning officer said presiding offices were arriving late due to the rain, and that was why the final announcements were being delayed.
In 2012, Sakku contested as an independent candidate and defeated veteran Awami League leader Afzal Khan by over 35,000 votes in the first election to the city corporation. In 2017, he won against Afzal Khan’s daughter Anjum Sultana Sima by a margin of around 11,000 votes.
Voting in 27 wards in Comilla City Corporation elections ended without any reports of major violence through EVMs. Voter turnout was around 60%, according to primary information from the polling stations.
According to the Returning Officer’s Office, there were a total of 229,920 voters in the elections. Among them, 117,092 were female, 112,826 were male, and two others were transgender voters. Voting took place in 640 booths of 105 polling stations.
In the election, there were five candidates for the post of mayor, 106 for the post of general councillor and 36 for the post of reserved women councillor.
The two other candidates were Rashedul Islam (hand fan) and Kamrul Ahsan Babul (deer).
The counting of votes started at the District Shilpakala Academy after 4pm. District Returning Officer Shahedunnabi Chowdhury announced the results around 9:30pm.
CEC: Voting was peaceful
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Wednesday said the elections to Comilla City Corporation, five municipalities and more than 120 union parishads in different districts were held in a fair and peaceful manner.
In a post-election press conference at his office in the capital’s Agargaon area, the CEC said: “Our overall opinion is that the polls to a city corporation, municipalities and union parishads were held in a peaceful and fair manner.”
Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka TribuneThe Comilla polls were the first election in Bangladesh where CCTV cameras were installed in every polling booth and the election was monitored by the EC.
“We have not heard any allegations from the voters,” the CEC said.
EVM leads to slow voting
About electronic voting machines (EVMs), Habibul Awal said the commission observed that elections were held in a good manner with the EVMs, though some people alleged that they faced problems in exercising their franchise through the machines.
While visiting some polling centres, the correspondents observed that vote casting was very slow in several centres, especially those for female voters.
Three injured, 12 arrested
During the polls, members of the law enforcement agencies were vigilant in the Comilla city area. No major violence was reported, but three people were injured in a clash that broke out between supporters of two councillor candidates at Bishnupur Government Primary School centre.
The injured were Ujjal, Rafi and Shawon, supporters of councillor aspirant Humayun Kabir.
According to locals, Armanur Rahman Arman’s supporters were trying to purchase votes when Humayun Kabir’s men stopped them in Ward 15. A clash ensued and supporters of both candidates hurled crude bombs at one another. According to OC Shahidur Rahman, they are yet to receive a written complaint about the matter.
Police arrested at least 12 people from various polling centres during the poll. A mobile court delivered sentences ranging from three days to three months against them, said Comilla Deputy Commissioner Kamrul Hassan. Those arrested and sentenced were all outsiders and not voters, he said.
He added that they had been sent to jail.
Earlier, the district administration had announced that outsiders would not be allowed in the city during the polls as part of the security measures undertaken to ensure a peaceful voting environment.
Security around the city has been beefed up to prevent any untoward incidents.
Who is Rifat?
Rifat is the general secretary of Comilla city unit Awami League. From student life, he has been actively involved with the Awami League. He passed his Secondary School Certificate exam from the Comilla Zilla School in 1974, and later completed his Higher Secondary and Graduation from the Comilla Victoria College.
When he was a student of Comilla Zilla School, he joined Chattra League, the student wing of Awami League, under the leadership of Comilla-6 MP AKM Baharuddin Bahar. Later, he was elected as the president of Chattra League’s Comilla city unit in 1980.
In 1981, Rifat was elected as the sports secretary of the Comilla Vitoria College Student Union. Later, he was attacked by the Jaamat-e-islam’s student wing Islami Chattra Shibir and was injured in his arms and legs. After getting treatment at Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore from 1983 to 1985, he survived.
In 1996, Rifat received executive membership of the central Jubo League, a youth wing of the Awami League. In 2017, Rifat was given the general secretary post of the city unit Awami League.
An intelligence agency report from 2018 created much hype after Rifat’s nomination was confirmed. It listed Rifat as the top patron of drug cartels in the district. But Awami League Organizing Secretary of Chittagong division Abu Sayeed Al Mahmood Swapon MP explained that the report had been prepared being motivated by local politics, as found in further probe into the matter.
Throughout his political career, Rifat has been a well-known ally of Comilla city unit Awami League President and Comilla town lawmaker Bahar.
Apart from his political career, Rifat is well known in Comilla for his contribution to the Sports sector. For the last 12 years, Rifat has been serving as the president of the Comilla District Football Association and the general secretary of the Comilla district sports council.
Rifat is also the two-time general secretary of Comilla Club.