At least nine BNP leaders were elected councillors in the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) election on Wednesday despite being banned from the party and deprived of any organizational assistance during the campaigns.
Of the winners, five became councillors for the second term while two are the current president and acting general secretary of district unit Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the BNP.
The expelled leaders who won the race are Syed Taufiqul Hadi in Ward No 1, Farhad Chowdhury Shamim in Ward No 6, Nazrul Islam Munim in Ward No 14, ABM Zillur Rahman in Ward No 18, Abdul Raqib Tuhin in Ward No 21, Humayun Kabir Suhin in Ward No 24, district Chhatra Dal President Altaf Hossain Sumon in Ward No 39 and acting general secretary Delwar Hossain Nadeem in Ward No 33. Among the reserved ward councillors, BNP's expelled candidate Ruhena Khanam Mukta was also elected in Ward No 4.
Ariful Haque Choudhury, who was elected the SCC mayor twice from the BNP, did not participate in the election. However, Jubo Dal leader Salahuddin Rimon contested the mayoral race.
Earlier, the BNP expelled 38 leaders, including the mayoral candidate, and instructed presidents and secretaries of 27 wards to make lists of party workers participating in any kind of election campaigning on behalf of the expelled mayor or councillor or other candidates.
Despite that, the voting through EVMs went peacefully at 190 centres, of which 132 were categorized as risky. The voter turnout was estimated at 46.71%.
In the Rajshahi city election, five expelled BNP leaders were elected as councillors, seven in Barisal and 11 in Gazipur.
