Awami League-nominated mayoral candidate AHM Khairuzzaman Liton won big in Wednesday's Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) election to clinch a hat-trick. On the other hand, the security deposits of all three defeated candidates have been forfeited.
The voting through EVM saw a 56.2% turnout. The number of cancelled votes is 2,070.
If a candidate does not get at least one-eighth of the total votes, his/her security deposit will be seized by the Election Commission.
Mayor Liton received a total of 195,758 votes with the boat symbol, and his nearest rival Murshid Alam of Islami Andolan Bangladesh got 13,483 votes. Besides, Zaker Party's Latif Anwar got 11,713 votes and Jatiya Party's Saiful Islam Swapan got 10,272 votes.
Among the councillor candidates, 22 Awami League leaders, seven from the BNP and one from the Workers Party were elected.
On June 8, a total of 16 BNP leaders including five vying for reserved seats for women were expelled for life for going against the party's decision. Moreover, the party also instructed members to refrain from campaigning and casting votes, as it did in the recently-concluded polls in Gazipur, Barisal, Khulna, and Sylhet.
Five of the banned candidates won the race for general councillor posts while two other winners were not expelled.