The BNP-backed mayoral candidates have won the polls in all the four city corporations as, according to unofficial count of votes till Saturday midnight, they were leading by huge margins against their Awami League-backed rivals, who had been mayors in the previous term.
In Sylhet, BNP-backed Ariful Haque Chowdhury thrashed his closest contender Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, the president of city Awami League, by 35,157 votes.
In Rajshahi, Mosaddeque Hossain Bulbul, supported by the BNP-led 18-party alliance, was ahead of ruling AL-backed candidate AHM Khairuzzaman Liton.
Vote counts say BNP-backed Ahsan Habib Kamal defeated AL-supported candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron in Barisal. In Khulna, BNP-backed candidate Moniruzzaman Moni enjoys a decisive 50,000 vote lead over the former mayor and AL-backed candidate Talukder Abdul Khaleque.
Sylhet City Corporation
Arif bagged 107,330 votes in the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) mayoral polls. His rival Kamran has got 72,173 votes while the other mayoral candidate, Salauddin Limon, got 1,022 votes.
Out of 291,046 voters, a total of 180,525 exercised their voting rights during the eight-hour-long voting.
The outgoing mayor, Kamran, accepted his defeat. In an instant reaction to a private television channel last night, he said he would discuss the reasons behind the defeat at party forum.
Asked whether the result would affect the national elections, he replied in the negative saying that it was a local-level election.
Rajshahi City Corporation
BNP-led 18-party alliance-backed Bulbul got 131,058 votes while Liton secured 83,726 votes in all the 137 polling centres, according to unofficial results.
Electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used in three voting centres – Rajshahi Government Laboratory High School, Laxmipur Girls High School and Government Teachers Training College.
Barisal City Corporation
BNP- backed Kamal bagged 83,751 votes while his nearest rival, AL-backed candidate Hiron, received 66,741 votes in 100 polling centres.
There were 211,257 voters in the city corporation. A total of 116 candidates contested for 30 councillor posts, while 45 vied for 10 reserved posts for women.
Khulna City Corporation
BNP-backed Moni won the election bagging 181,265 votes while his nearest rival AL-backed mayoral candidate Khaleque got 120,058 votes in the polls that held in 288 polling centres.
EVMs were used at Khulna Crescent Secondary School (south), Crescent Secondary School (north), Crescent Alim Madrasa, Khulna Bidyut Kendra Secondary School and Goalpara Community Centre.
Apart from Barisal, no major election-related violence was seen in Rajshahi, Khulna or Sylhet during the polling hours that continued simultaneously from 8am to 4pm without any break.
Hundreds of people queued up in the polling centres from early in the day to cast their votes, according to the election officials.
Though the deadline for campaigning was on Thursday night, both the AL- and BNP-backed mayoral candidates continued their campaigns in different parts in
Barisal city until midnight on Friday, breaching the electoral code of conduct, according to our correspondents covering the election.
The mayors and councilors are elected for a five-year term.