The elections would have been more participatory if another party contested the polls, said Awami League candidate for Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayoral election, Atiqul Islam.
“If another political party contested, the elections would have been participatory. It would make the polls scenario more graceful,” said Atiqul while he went to cast his vote with his wife and daughter at a polling station in the capital’s Uttara around 9am on Thursday (Feb 28).
On the occasion, Atiqul urged the voters to come to the polling stations to cast their franchises by ignoring unfriendly weather condition.
“Vote is a democratic right; come and cast your vote. I want valuable votes from you to make a beautiful Dhaka,” Atiqul said.
Voting is undergoing at a total of 36 extended wards, including 18 wards under Dhaka North City Corporation and 18 under Dhaka South City Corporation from 8am on Thursday, which will continue till 4pm without any break.
A total of 382 mayor, councilor and reserved women councilor candidates are participating in the election. The four other aspirants for the mayor post are – Jatiya Party’s (JP) Shafin Ahmed, National People’s Party’s (NPP) Anisur Rahman Dewan, People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Shahin Khan and independent candidate Abdur Rahim.
Atiqul Islam is contesting with Awami League’s ‘boat’ symbol while Shafin Ahmed with ‘plough’, Anisur Rahman Dewan with ‘Mango’, Shahin Khan with ‘Tiger’ and Abdur Rahim with ‘Table Clock’. In terms of population, the DNCC is the country’s largest city corporation area with 2.35 million voters.

The mayoral post fell vacant after the death of former mayor Annisul Huq on Nov 30, 2017.