Mannan leading in GCC polls

FE Team | Published: July 07, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

MA Mannan, Ajmat Ullah

FE Report Mayor candidate MA Mannan, backed by the BNP-led 18-party alliance, was leading in the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) election, as the unofficial results of 279 centres out of 392 were available until our going to press at 10:00 pm Saturday. Mr Mannan bagged 203,000 votes against 125,000 votes secured by his nearest rival Advocate Azmal Ullah Khan, backed by the Awami League-led 14-party alliance. Earlier, voting in the maiden GCC election ended peacefully amid enthusiasm and tension beginning at 8 am. UNB adds: The Returning Officer's office said voters in about 37 polling centers cast their votes even after 4 pm as the queues there were too long. Returning Officer Matiar Rahman told journalists that 60 to 65 per cent votes were cast in the election. At a press conference at the EC secretariat in the capital, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed urged all the candidates to accept the people's verdict. "The people of Gazipur have exercised their constitutional rights. I'm requesting candidates and their supporters to accept the people's verdict and maintain a healthy atmosphere of traditional political practice. While visiting some polling centers, UNB correspondents found the voters standing in long queues to elect their first city mayor. Awami League led 14-party supported candidate Ajmat Ullah said that the voting was held in a free and fair manner. The BNP-led 18 -party-supported candidate MA Mannan said though the voting was held peacefully in the morning but the situation started changing at noon. He also alleged that the ruling party men were trying to influence the voters. Meanwhile, a delegation of BNP, led by its standing committee member MK Anwar, went to the Election Commission (EC) and lodged complaints of various irregularities in the election. No major incident was reported during the election. A scuffle took place between the supporters of Ajmat and Hannan at Government Girl's College polling centre at 11 am. Later, police brought the situation under control. A polling agent of Ajmat was sacked when he was persuading voters to cast their votes for Ajmat at the city's Ashraf Textile Mills centre in Tongi ward No.57. On the wake of allegation from other polling agents, Presiding officer of the polling centre Zobair Akand sacked the polling agent named Kazi Shakir Shithil. There are seven mayoral candidates -- 14-party-supported Ajmat Ullah Khan, 18-party-blessed MA Mannan, Mezbah Uddin Sarker, Aman Ullah, Rina Sultana, Jahangir Alam and Nazim Uddin Ahmed. Later, Jahangir stayed off from the race and extended support to Ajmat. The EC declared 235 of the centres as vulnerable and taken special security measures for those.