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Awami League candidate Arfanul Haque Rifat received the Comilla Metropolis Company mayoral polls yesterday, defeating the quick previous mayor Monirul Haque Sakku by 343 votes.
Arfanul Haque Rifat bagged 50,310 votes whereas his rival Monirul Haque Sakku obtained 49,967 votes within the polls that changed into a neck and neck race over the last minute of relying on Wednesday night time.
Hundreds of Rifat’s supporters roared in pleasure and chanted slogans because the Returning Officer Shahedunnabi Chowdhury introduced the outcomes on the district’s Shilpakala Academy on Wednesday night time.
Sakku, the expelled BNP chief who received the final two elections by big margins, claimed the outcomes have been rigged, and mentioned he would problem it within the Excessive Court docket.
Sakku entered the management room at Shilpakala Academy at round 9pm as lots of of supporters of Rifat began chanting slogans. Police later intervened in a bid to clear the supporters from the constructing and calm the chaos.
Nizam Uddin Kaiser, one other expelled BNP chief and one of many key contestants for the workplace, obtained 29,999 votes, in line with the returning officer.
“I’ll perform growth in line with my election pledges,” Rifat mentioned in a right away response. “We are going to work collectively for Cumilla,” he added.
Polling was largely peaceable all through the day aside from some irregularities. In yesterday’s polls, 229,920 voters, together with 117,092 girls, have been eligible to train their franchise within the metropolis company polls, whereas voting in any respect 105 centres have been by digital voting machines (EVMs).
Two main setbacks – one pure and the opposite technical – slowed down the voting. It began raining at round 9 within the morning dampening the voter turnout.
Apart from, there had been widespread complaints in regards to the digital voting machines (EVM) for slowing down the poll casting all through the day. Each ruling party-backed and opposition candidates have been vocal in opposition to the EVM points.
Because the day progressed, voter presence on the centres began to enhance. Many centres noticed lengthy queues of individuals at midday ready to practise their voting franchise. Many of the centres couldn’t forged 30%-40% of the votes until midday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal assumed the turnout was round 60%.
Within the 2017 Cumilla metropolis elections, voter turnout was practically 64%, whereas it was 75% in 2012.
Political observers had been terming the Cumilla metropolis elections a litmus take a look at for the Election Fee shaped in February. The Kazi Habibul Awal-led EC will maintain the nationwide election in late-2023.
On Wednesday night, the CEC informed the journalists in Dhaka that Cumilla metropolis polls had been peaceable, truthful and clear. He mentioned he didn’t get any complaints from the voters besides a number of saying they have been having difficulties with the EVM.
‘EVM slows down voting’
Zahera Begum, a voter at Thira Pukurpar Centre, informed The Enterprise Commonplace at 2:00pm that she had been standing within the queue since 8:00am. “How would I vote if it takes so lengthy? Some time in the past, a girl collapsed after ready for hours. I don’t perceive why it takes so lengthy.”
Nurpur Ward 18 Presiding Officer Sultan Ahmed informed TBS that the EVMs have been slowing down the voting as folks have been nonetheless not aware of it.
Councillor candidates complained that voting on the Chauara Islamia Fazil Madrasa centre at ward no 27 was suspended for about half an hour within the morning as a result of an influence outage.
Within the morning, voting at Comilla Excessive Faculty began Quarter-hour later because the centre confronted EVM glitches. In the meantime, many citizens at ward 14 complained that the voting obtained slowed down as a result of EVM.
“I’ve been standing right here for 3 hours, however my flip is but to return. Every voting by the machine is taking 10-Quarter-hour,” Nazrul Islam, a voter of ward 14 informed TBS. Officers on the centre mentioned they might forged 1,000 votes within the first 5 hours.
After casting his vote at Hochcha Mia Excessive Faculty centre at 9:30 am, Monirul Haque Sakku mentioned the ballot’s environment was fairly tremendous. “It is raining. Extra folks may have come if the climate had been higher.”
Sakku alleged, “The machines should not working correctly. After tapping on the machine, the symbols should not showing on the display screen.”
Even then, he mentioned he was glad with the voting surroundings.
Machine shows solely Boat, Justice of the Peace barred from checking
Kazi Golam Mostafa, a voter at ward 19, informed TBS that he couldn’t vote for his mayoral candidate because the EVM had been exhibiting solely the Boat image. “I couldn’t change it [Boat] regardless of a number of makes an attempt.”
Nazmul Amin, the presiding officer on the centre, barred Judicial Justice of the Peace Omar Faruk from coming into the sales space as he wished to confirm the allegation.
“Through the polling, some voters claimed that the EVMs getting used on the Neura MI Excessive Faculty polling station have been exhibiting solely the ‘Boat’ image. The presiding officer stopped me after I tried to enter the polling station to see the EVM. I used to be informed to depart instantly,” Omar Faruk informed TBS.
Nevertheless, the presiding officer informed TBS that he didn’t cease the judicial Justice of the Peace, he simply informed the Justice of the Peace that he can’t go to the key voting room in line with the regulation.
AL males stage showdown
Because the morning, there have been people within the secret voting room at a number of centres who claimed to be helping the voters.
At a lot of the centres, Awami League leaders and activists, with badges round their neck, have been seen standing by the doorway. Additionally they staged showdown at intersections and key factors of the town.
In lots of centres, there have been no polling brokers of the opposite mayoral candidates besides Arfanul Haque Rifat’s supporters.
“We’re principally serving to the voters and guiding the aged residents for the voting,” Hafizur Rahman, a supporter of the Awami League-backed candidate, mentioned.
Nevertheless, regulation enforcers grew to become energetic and dispersed them at midday.
Within the morning, police held Ilias Hossain Sabuj, president of Cumilla College Chhatra League, for providing voters money at Salmanpur. As the manager Justice of the Peace appeared on the scene to arrest the ruling social gathering scholar chief, college students took Ilias away from police and assaulted the general public officers.
Cell courts sentenced 11 people for election frauds. Certainly one of them was sentenced to a few months, whereas 5 have been sentenced to 1 to a few weeks.
AL candidate glad, ruling MP saddened
Awami League’s mayor candidate Arfanul Haque Rifat mentioned the election was free and truthful, however he didn’t get any help from the administration.
He alleged police harassed his supporters at a number of polling stations.
In a separate growth, Member of the Parliament AKM Bahauddin Bahar, who breached the electoral code of conduct by campaigning for the Awami League candidate and was ordered by the EC to depart the constituency, criticised the fee over its motion.
“The language of the EC letter was inappropriate and it was out of EC’s jurisdiction,” mentioned the Cumilla-6 lawmaker after casting his poll at Comilla Victoria Collegiate Faculty centre.
“An election commissioner mentioned I violated the regulation even after being a lawmaker. This was very disturbing and saddening,” Bahauddin informed reporters.
Within the night, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal was requested in regards to the comment by the lawmaker.
“For me, the difficulty of the honourable MP is previous and closed. I’d not touch upon that,” mentioned the CEC.
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