After lagging behind in the first two phases, the ruling Awami League took lead in early unofficial results in the third spell of elections to 81 upazila parishads yesterday amid allegations of violence and vote rigging.
This time the Awami League-backed chairman contenders bagged 40 seats while BNP-sponsored candidates secured 28 seats.
The candidates backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami continued to keep up its winning trend with seven chairman posts.
Vote count was still going on in three upazilas – Haziganj in Chandpur, Muktagachha in Mymensingh and Hizla in Barisal – as the report was being prepared.
However, the Election Commission postponed voting in two centres in Haziganj and three each in Muktagachha and Hizla.
Interestingly the candidates belonging to the Awami League won almost all the seats where there were allegation of vote rigging and violence like Bagerhat, Kurigram, Feni, Chandpur, Barisal, Bhola and Shariatpur.
Ershad’s Jatiya Party performed worse than the last two phases as they failed to secure even a single chairman post till filing of this report at 2.30pm.
Like the previous phases, regional parties Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) maintained its hold in the upazilas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The PCJSS has claimed two chairman posts.
In Tungipara of Gopalganj – the home of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – the rebel candidate of the Awami League won the chairman post by a big margin of around twenty thousands. In this upazila The BNP field no candidate.
Four Awami League rebel candidates won chairman post in Tungipara in Gopalganj, Bhanga in Faridpur, Dhubaira in Mymensingh and Raumari in Kurigram.
In Kishorganj Sadar Upazila, the paternal cousin of Awami League General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam was defeated by the BNP-backed contender.
Like the previous two phases, the BNP-backed candidates failed to ensure a single chairman seat in Barisal and Bhola districts.
However, in Noakhali and Feni districts, the stronghold of BNP, contenders loyal to the ruling party won one and BNP-backed candidate managed to secure one.
In the first two phases BNP-backed candidates won the chairman post in 98 upazilas, the Awami League 82, the Jamaat-endorsed aspirants won 20, the Jatiya party two, the PCJSS four while three goes to the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF).
