Sakku retains Comilla mayorship

BNP mayoral candidate Monirul Haque Sakku has unofficially won the Comilla City Corporation election.

Sakku, the immediate past mayor, has bagged 68,948 votes to retain his office while his nearest contestant Awami League-backed Anjum Sultana Sima pulled 57,863 votes in 101 of the total 103 polling centres, according to Returning Officer Rokib Uddin Mandal.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal’s (JSD-Rob’s) mayoral candidate Shirin Akhter received 768 votes while independent candidate Maj (retd) Mamunur Rashid Mamun received 283 votes.

The election began at 8am on Thursday amid tight security. Around 4,700 members of law enforcement agencies were deployed in the city.

Voting was suspended at two centres over irregularities.

Voters queue up to cast their ballots at a polling station during the election to Comilla City Corporation on Thursday Mohiuddin Mollah/Dhaka Tribune

BNP candidate Sakku also gave birth to some controversy as he showed the ballot to reporters after casting his vote.

As per the election rules, voting in public is a punishable offence and a voter must cast the vote secretly inside the secret room.

Meanwhile, a total of 154 candidates vied for 27 ward councillor posts and nine councillor posts reserved for women stands.

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Also Read- EC wants raid on Comilla militant den after city polls

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Some 207,566 people were eligible to vote, and the turnout stood at 63.92%, an Election Commission official said.

The city corporation was scheduled to go to the polls on December 20 last year, but legal complexities over a boundary demarcation delayed it.

Voters queue up to cast their ballots at a polling station during the election to Comilla City Corporation on Thursday Mohiuddin Mollah/Dhaka TribuneMeanwhile, a tense situation has prevailed in the area as law enforcers have cordoned off a suspected militant hideout at south Bagmara village in Kotbari of Comilla Sadar South upazila since Wednesday. The law enforcers did not undertake an operation during the polls as the EC had asked them to delay their raid on the den until the election was over.