Abul Khair wins in Barishal, Khaleque in Khulna

Ruling Awami League (AL) nominated mayoral candidates Abul Khair Abdullah alias Khokon Serniabat and Talukder Abdul Khaleque unofficially won the Barisal City Corporation (BCC) and Khulna City Corporation polls respectively on Monday.

According to the results, Abul Khair Abdullah (boat) got 87,752 votes while his nearest contender Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s candidate Mufti Syed Mohammad Faizul Karim (hand Fan) bagged 34,345 votes in the BCC mayoral election.

Meanwhile, Talukder Abdul Khaleque was unofficially elected mayor of Khulna for the second time.

According to the results, Abdul Khaleque (boat) got 1,54,885 votes while his nearest contestant Bangladesh Islami Andolan’s Abdul Awal (hand Fan) bagged 60,064 votes.

In the KCC polls, five candidates vied for the mayoral post. They are AL-backed Talukder Abdul Khaleque (boat), Jatiya Party’s Shafiqul Islam Modhu (plough), Bangladesh Islami Andolon’s Moulana Abdul Awal (hand Fan), Zaker Party’s SM Sabbir Hossain (rose) and independent candidate Shafiqur Rahman Mushfiq (table clock).

Earlier in the day, the voting for BCC and KCC was held from 8 am-4 pm in an overall peaceful manner with reports of isolated incidents of violence in some places in the two city corporations.

The number of voters in the Khulna City Corporation was 535,529 while Barishal City had 276,298 voters.

Voter turnout in BCC and KCC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal estimated that voter turnout was about 50 per cent in the BCC election while in the KCC it was between 42 and 45 per cent.

CEC Kazi Habibul Awal at a press briefing at the EC Office in Dhaka on Monday afternoon said that they have taken adequate preparations to ensure that no post-polls violence takes place in Barishal and Khulna.

He also said polling in the two cities was held amid festivities, and in a free and fair manner except a few incidents.