Awami League’s mayor hopeful Atiqul Islam is comfortably leading in the race to the office of the Dhaka North City mayor.
The decisive trend emerged as the Election Commission completed vote counts in the one-sixth of the polling centres.
Results from 645 of the total 1,295 centres have been in.
Ruling party candidate Atiqul pulled in 387,279 votes against 15,275 of his nearest rival Shafin Ahmed of Jatiya Party.
Earlier on Thursday election officials started counting the votes after polls closed at 4pm amid low turnout.
Although the overall voter turnout was low, for which the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda blamed the political parties, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the voting centers were teeming with voters.
“The turnout may be low since all political parties are not taking part,” observed the CEC while Kamal said, “It’s not true that the voters have lost enthusiasm for the polls. All the voting centres are crowded.”
The voting for the mayoral post in the DNCC by-polls and councillor posts in 36 extended wards in both city corporations were held in 1,700 centres with about two million registered voters.

The other aspirants for the mayor post are–National People’s Party’s (NPP) Anisur Rahman Dewan, People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Shahin Khan and independent candidate Abdur Rahim.
Dhaka north’s mayoral post fell vacant after the death of former mayor Annisul Huq on Nov 30, 2017.

Also Read

EC expects around 50% voter turnout

Dhaka city polls voting ends amid low turnout

Elections not participatory: Mahbub Talukdar

Less than 400 votes at four centres

Staged voters’ line for TV footage!

Polling stations swarming with voters: Home minister

Voter turnout very low: Shafin Ahmed

Voter apathy at DNCC by-election

Voters lethargic in showing up for DNCC by-polls

CEC blames political parties for low voter turnout

City elections being held in a peaceful manner: CEC

Presence of all parties could've made polls inclusive: Atiqul