Proving all speculations about whether the Awami League's new candidate could win his first-ever mayoral bid in Sylhet wrong, Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury performed with aplomb yesterday in an election that saw a ruling party-backed mayoral hopeful elected after a break of two terms.
Even a day before the election to the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC), there were mixed reactions over Anwar's getting the ruling party's ticket for the election.
However, despite being an expatriate and joint general secretary of the UK unit of the Awami League, he came out victorious against his closest rival -- Jatiya Party's Nazrul Islam Babul -- by more than double the vote count.
Meanwhile, the Awami League-endorsed candidate AHM Khairuzzaman Liton was elected mayor of Rajshahi for the third time.
In fact, it is his second consecutive victory in the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) polls. The Jatiya Party-backed candidate boycotted the polls results announced unofficially yesterday evening.
“The RCC and SCC polls were held in a free and fair manner amid festivity . . . we didn't receive any report of untoward incidents,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said.
Notably, the BNP had already boycotted both elections held through electronic voting machines (EVMs). However, a number of leaders of the party, expelled recently for violating its decision not to participate in the city polls, were in the polls race.
In Sylhet, voters exercised their franchise through EVMs at 190 centres. Of them, 132 polling centres were categorized as risky. The voter turnout was estimated at 46.71%.
The election was held for the fifth time in this city in 42 wards with an area of 79.50 square kilometres.
Other than the Awami League and Jatiya Party mayoral hopefuls, the other candidates for the same post were Zaker Party's Zahirul Alam and independent candidates Abdul Hanif Kutu, Salah Uddin Rimon, Shah Jahan Mia and Mostak Ahmed Rouf Mostafa.
Islami Andolan's Hafiz Maulana Mahmudul Hasan earlier boycotted the SCC election.
Anwaruzzaman bagged 119,991 votes while Babul had 50,862 votes in his favour.
The Awami League leader, immediately after the polls result, vowed to sacrifice his life, if needed, for the welfare of the city dwellers.
“Turning Sylhet into a clean city will be my first job,” he said.
As many as 273 general councillor candidates were in the elections to the city's 42 wards, where 42 women vied for reserved councillor positions.
The city has 487,753 voters, including 233,387 women.
In Rajshahi, after the BNP's move to boycott the election, it was almost certain that Liton would retain power.
Besides, he was already a heavyweight mayoral candidate compared to the Jatiya Party's Saiful Islam Swapan (plough), Islami Andolan Bangladesh's Murshid Alam (hand-driven fan) and Zaker Party's Latif Anwar (rose).
Liton bagged 160,290 votes while Islami Andolan's Murshid got just 13,883 votes as his closest rival.
There were 351,982 voters to exercise their right of franchise in 1,153 rooms of 155 polling centres in 30 wards.
The RCC polls saw a 56.20% voter turnout.
A total of 161 candidates were in the election race. Alongside the four contenders for mayor, there were some 112 general councillor candidates in 30 wards and 46 for 10 reserved seats for women councillors.
In his instant reaction over his victory, Liton said: “I'll fulfill every single pledge I made to the city's residents in my election manifesto”.
Liton earlier won the RCC polls in 2008 and 2018.
