Polls in 14 Upazilas: AL men elected chairman in 6, BNP men in 3

Six Awami League, three BNP and an independent candidate were elected chairman in upazila polls and by-elections yesterday.

Amid a low turnout, elections were held peacefully in 14 upazilas of 12 districts under the new Election Commission. Of them, by-elections to chairman and vice-chairman posts were held in 11 upazilas.

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AL-backed vice-chairman candidates won in three upazilas while a Jamaat favourite became victorious in another one.

Tight security measures were in place during the polling. However, some stray incidents of voting irregularities were reported.

AL chairman candidates won in Banaripara and Gouranadi of Barisal, Rangabali of Patuakhali, Adarsha Sadar of Comilla, Sujanagar of Pabna and Baraigram of Natore. Nominees of BNP were elected chairman in Osmaninagar of Sylhet, Jagannathpur of Sunamganj and Hossainpur of Kishoreganj while an independent candidate won in Guimara of Khagrachhari.

Some candidates of the BNP, Jatiya Party and rebels of the ruling AL brought allegations of vote rigging by AL men in several upazilas, report our correspondents.

Yesterday's elections drew much attention from different quarters as they were keen to see whether the newly formed EC would be able to hold the polls in a free and fair manner.

The new EC, led by KM Nurul Huda, took office on February 15. Experts and some former and current EC officials earlier said the initial local government polls would be a litmus test for the new commission which is scheduled to oversee the 2019 parliamentary election.

Of the 14 upazilas, fresh elections were held in Sylhet's Osmaninagar, Khagrachhari's Guimara and Sunamganj's Jagannathpur for all three posts of chairman and vice-chairman.

The rest of the upazilas went to by-polls to fill in some vacant posts. Besides, by-elections were held in Shakhipur municipality of Tangail, Golachipa municipality of Patuakhali, Arani municipality of Rajshahi and Sherpur municipality of Bogra, said EC officials.

The AL nominee won the mayor election in Patuakhali's Golachipa Municipality. Out of three councillor posts in as many municipalities, two went to BNP-backed candidates and the other to an AL favourite.

VOTING PEACEFUL

In Sylhet, voting in Osmaninagar and Jagannathpur upazila was peaceful, but the turnouts were very low, reports our correspondent.

Morelganj upazila in Bagerhat went to by-polls to elect a vice chairman. No incidents of violence and electoral irregularities were reported.

However, Jatiya Party-backed candidate Akhteruzzaman boycotted the election bringing allegations of mismanagement by election officials and vote rigging.

Denying the allegations, Returning Officer Humayun Kabir said the elections were fair.

In Hossainpur upazila of Kishoreganj, voting was held to elect the chairman. Polls were peaceful, but the turnout was low due to rain, reports our correspondent.

BNP candidate Jahirul Islam Mobin and AL rebel Md Sohel alleged that supporters of AL nominee Jahirul Islam Nuru rigged the voting.

Denying the allegation, the AL candidate said there were no voting irregularities.

In Rangabali upazila of Patuakhali, our correspondent visited Saleha Khatun High School polling centre. A group of some 20 AL men went to the polling centre around 9:30am and started stuffing ballot boxes in favour of party chairman candidate Delwar Hossain. The presiding and polling officers did not take any action.

After around 30 minutes, the ruling party men left the polling station.

BNP candidate Jahangir Hossain Akon alleged that supporters of the AL nominee occupied polling stations and rigged voting. He demanded the EC hold a fresh by-election.

Delwar, however, denied the allegation of vote rigging. Presiding Officer Saidul Islam refused to make any comment on the issue.

In Comilla, a mobile court jailed a man for seven days for casting fake votes in the by-election for the chairman post of Adarsha Sadar upazila parishad.

Elections in Guimara of Khagrachhari, Baraigram of Natore, Sujanagar and Ishwardi of Pabna, Gouranadi and Banaripara of Barisal were held peacefully, report our correspondents.