Narayanganj city polls begin

Voters in long queue at Dhankunda Popular High School centre, Ward 8, Narayanganj City Corporation on 8:30amShamsur Rahman

After 18 days of high-energy campaign, voting has began in 192 centres under 27 wards in Narayanganj City Corporation election today.

The voting has started at 8:00am to be continued till 4:00pm.

Seven candidates including ruling party nominee Selina Hayat Ivy and her arch rival advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker, a former BNP leader who has been fighting as an independent candidate are running for the post of mayor this election.

Other candidates for the mayoral post are, ABM Sirajul Mamun, of Bangladesh Khilafah Majlis, Mashum Billah of Islamic Movement Hatpakha Bangladesh, Rashed Ferdous of Bangladesh Kalyan Party, Jasim Uddin Of Bangladesh Khilafah Movement and independent mayoral candidate Qamrul Islam.

Besdies,148 for councillor posts and 34 women for reserved seats are contesting in the election.

Independent mayoral candidate Taimur Alam will cast his vote at Narayanganj Islamia Kamil (MA) Madrasah centre in Masdair area at 8:00am.

On the other hand, Awami League mayoral candidate Selina Hayat Ivy will cast her vote at Deobhog Shishu Bagh Government Primary School in Town at 9.30am.

Since the announcement of the election schedule, mayoral and councillor and reserved councillor candidates have been campaigning in a festive atmosphere. No violence or untoward incidents took place during the 18 days of the campaign. With 2 million residents, the city has 517,361 voters. Of these, 259,846 are male voters while 257,511 are female voters.

District Superintendent of Police Zaidul Alam told Prothom Alo that there will be three levels of security for free, fair and impartial elections. More than 5,000 law enforcement personnel will be deployed to secure the polling stations. A mobile court headed by 39 magistrates will be on the ground. No one will be allowed to influence the polling station and disturb anyone.

Narayanganj City Corporation was formed on 5 May 2011 by abolishing Narayanganj Municipality, Siddhirganj Municipality and Kadam Rasul Municipality.