Dhaka city mayor candidate from Jatiya Party, Shafin Ahmed, has pointed to the conspicuous low turnout of voters in the DNCC by election.

“I have visited several centres form morning and have not seen voters,” he said on Thursday (Feb 28) while talking to journalists after casting vote at the Manarat Dhaka International School and College.

People have become apathetic since previous polls have been marked by too many discrepancies, said the rock star turned politician.

“People are wary and skeptical about votes.”

Saying that he did not see any irregularities at Manarat Dhaka International School and College, he observed, “I have been informed of aberrations at other centres.”

Asked if he would remain in contest till the end, Shafin said, “There’s plenty of time left, let me visit a few more centres and then will make a decision.”

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.