BNP backed mayoral candidates dominated the battle of ballots in 72 municipalities of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions as elections to the local government bodies were held yesterday peacefully with only a few incidents of irregularities.
Out of the 72 mayoral posts, BNP backed candidates won 33 while their archrivals ruling Awami League (AL) backed contenders bagged 18, and Jamaat-e-Islami backed candidates got 5.
Rebel candidates affiliated with AL got 6 mayoral posts while BNP affiliated rebels got 3. Jatiya Party backed candidates won one, while 6 independents were also elected mayors.
Today voters of 49 municipalities in Khulna and Barisal divisions will elect their mayors and councillors. Grassroots level leaders of both AL and BNP stepped into that ballot battle as well.
Elections to 122 municipalities of Dhaka, Sylhet, and Chittagong divisions will be held on Monday and Tuesday.
At the beginning of polling hours yesterday the turnout of voters was thin due to winter chill, but the scene changed as soon as the fog began to disappear, reported our correspondents.
Amid a festive mood, voters queued up throughout the day to cast their votes to elect 72 mayors and 971 councillors, who will provide municipal services to their constituents for the next five years.
The elections were held in tight security in 1,095 polling stations where 362 mayoral candidates and 4,605 councillor candidates contended.
The few untoward incidents include snatching of 76 ballot papers from a polling booth in Pabna, and snatching of 57 ballot papers in Kurigram. In most cases due intervention by law enforcing agencies and mobile courts prevented flare ups.
"There is not a single incident of closure of polling station. The polling was very peaceful," said Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hossain as he expressed satisfaction over a good start of the municipality polls.
During a media briefing he mentioned that voter turnout was around 60 to 65 percent.
The main opposition BNP, which had been expressing concern over possible degeneration of free and fair polling atmosphere, also termed yesterday's polls as largely peaceful.
In a media briefing in the afternoon, BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan however feared possible manipulation by ruling AL during vote counting through its influence in the government.
Yesterday's elections can be taken as a success of the Election Commission's tough position against poll violence, and violation of electoral rules.
The EC sent a strong message when on January 2 it cancelled Jhenidah and Ramgarh municipality polls following violence there.
Yesterday's elections also stood in stark contrast to the last municipal polls held in May 2004 amid allegations of poll rigging, violence, and casting of fake votes.
Yesterday, after the polling hours were over, law enforcement agencies stood guard at key points of the municipalities to maintain post-poll law and order. They dispersed curious people and campaigners who gathered around the polling centres.
Though the army was deployed in 15 municipalities out of a total 49 in Rajshahi division, elections in Rangpur division were held peacefully without any such deployment.
Our correspondents covering the polls reported that turnout of women voters was more than men's.
Presiding officer Gonesh Chandra Barmon in Rangpur told our Rangpur correspondent, "In fact male voters started queuing up at quarter past nine in the morning while female voters had begun thronging the polling centres at least half an hour earlier."
STRAY INCIDENTS
A man in Nilphamari was sentenced to one-year and another man in Thakurgaon was sentenced to six-month imprisonment, for campaigning on polling day.
Law enforcers arrested 14 people from Dhunat and Sariakandi municipalities in Bogra, and one in Pabna for violating electoral code of conduct.
Our correspondent in Pabna reported that a group of men stormed into Chawk Chatiyani Primary School polling centre at 3:00pm and took away 76 ballot papers of councillor candidates.
Police arrested a polling agent of an AL backed candidate from Maniknagar polling centre for pressuring voters to cast their votes for his candidate.
In Kurigram, the authorities detained two election officials of a polling centre for "negligence in duty" after some young men snatched 57 ballot papers. The arrested officials were sent to Keraniganj jail later.
An activists of AL backed student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) beat up a brother of an AL backed candidate following a row there.
Police dispersed a BCL procession in front of Kurigram Government College in support of AL backed candidates, reported our Kurigram correspondent.
Our Dinajpur correspondent reported that mobile courts fined three people for distributing money among voters in Birganj upazila. A mobile court also seized some motorbikes and a microbus for use of those in violating electoral rules.
Some people were injured when police charged batons at a polling centre in Phulbari.
In Rajshahi, Rapid Action Battalion members arrested one person from Chowpukuria Primary School centre in Durgapur upazila on charge of threatening voters of dire consequences if they did not cast votes for an AL backed mayoral candidate.
A summary court released him after fining Tk 1,000, reported our Rajshahi correspondent.
People laid seize to AL lawmaker Enamul Haque in Rajshahi around noon as he was campaigning for an AL backed candidate at Zamgram in Bagmara. BNP backed mayoral candidate SM Akbar Ali complained of an assault on him by his opposition, while presiding officer of Dharampur polling centre complained that his assistant got threats from a candidate.
A few allegations of fake vote casting were also reported in Rajshahi.
Our Rangpur correspondent reported that a mobile court fined AL backed mayoral candidate Shahadat Hossain Sabuj Tk 500 for not using the authorisation sticker on his car while visiting polling centres in Sundarganj of Gaibandha.
Out of the 72 mayoral posts, BNP backed candidates won 33 while their archrivals ruling Awami League (AL) backed contenders bagged 18, and Jamaat-e-Islami backed candidates got 5.
Rebel candidates affiliated with AL got 6 mayoral posts while BNP affiliated rebels got 3. Jatiya Party backed candidates won one, while 6 independents were also elected mayors.
Today voters of 49 municipalities in Khulna and Barisal divisions will elect their mayors and councillors. Grassroots level leaders of both AL and BNP stepped into that ballot battle as well.
Elections to 122 municipalities of Dhaka, Sylhet, and Chittagong divisions will be held on Monday and Tuesday.
At the beginning of polling hours yesterday the turnout of voters was thin due to winter chill, but the scene changed as soon as the fog began to disappear, reported our correspondents.
Amid a festive mood, voters queued up throughout the day to cast their votes to elect 72 mayors and 971 councillors, who will provide municipal services to their constituents for the next five years.
The elections were held in tight security in 1,095 polling stations where 362 mayoral candidates and 4,605 councillor candidates contended.
The few untoward incidents include snatching of 76 ballot papers from a polling booth in Pabna, and snatching of 57 ballot papers in Kurigram. In most cases due intervention by law enforcing agencies and mobile courts prevented flare ups.
"There is not a single incident of closure of polling station. The polling was very peaceful," said Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Sakhawat Hossain as he expressed satisfaction over a good start of the municipality polls.
During a media briefing he mentioned that voter turnout was around 60 to 65 percent.
The main opposition BNP, which had been expressing concern over possible degeneration of free and fair polling atmosphere, also termed yesterday's polls as largely peaceful.
In a media briefing in the afternoon, BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan however feared possible manipulation by ruling AL during vote counting through its influence in the government.
Yesterday's elections can be taken as a success of the Election Commission's tough position against poll violence, and violation of electoral rules.
The EC sent a strong message when on January 2 it cancelled Jhenidah and Ramgarh municipality polls following violence there.
Yesterday's elections also stood in stark contrast to the last municipal polls held in May 2004 amid allegations of poll rigging, violence, and casting of fake votes.
Yesterday, after the polling hours were over, law enforcement agencies stood guard at key points of the municipalities to maintain post-poll law and order. They dispersed curious people and campaigners who gathered around the polling centres.
Though the army was deployed in 15 municipalities out of a total 49 in Rajshahi division, elections in Rangpur division were held peacefully without any such deployment.
Our correspondents covering the polls reported that turnout of women voters was more than men's.
Presiding officer Gonesh Chandra Barmon in Rangpur told our Rangpur correspondent, "In fact male voters started queuing up at quarter past nine in the morning while female voters had begun thronging the polling centres at least half an hour earlier."
STRAY INCIDENTS
A man in Nilphamari was sentenced to one-year and another man in Thakurgaon was sentenced to six-month imprisonment, for campaigning on polling day.
Law enforcers arrested 14 people from Dhunat and Sariakandi municipalities in Bogra, and one in Pabna for violating electoral code of conduct.
Our correspondent in Pabna reported that a group of men stormed into Chawk Chatiyani Primary School polling centre at 3:00pm and took away 76 ballot papers of councillor candidates.
Police arrested a polling agent of an AL backed candidate from Maniknagar polling centre for pressuring voters to cast their votes for his candidate.
In Kurigram, the authorities detained two election officials of a polling centre for "negligence in duty" after some young men snatched 57 ballot papers. The arrested officials were sent to Keraniganj jail later.
An activists of AL backed student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) beat up a brother of an AL backed candidate following a row there.
Police dispersed a BCL procession in front of Kurigram Government College in support of AL backed candidates, reported our Kurigram correspondent.
Our Dinajpur correspondent reported that mobile courts fined three people for distributing money among voters in Birganj upazila. A mobile court also seized some motorbikes and a microbus for use of those in violating electoral rules.
Some people were injured when police charged batons at a polling centre in Phulbari.
In Rajshahi, Rapid Action Battalion members arrested one person from Chowpukuria Primary School centre in Durgapur upazila on charge of threatening voters of dire consequences if they did not cast votes for an AL backed mayoral candidate.
A summary court released him after fining Tk 1,000, reported our Rajshahi correspondent.
People laid seize to AL lawmaker Enamul Haque in Rajshahi around noon as he was campaigning for an AL backed candidate at Zamgram in Bagmara. BNP backed mayoral candidate SM Akbar Ali complained of an assault on him by his opposition, while presiding officer of Dharampur polling centre complained that his assistant got threats from a candidate.
A few allegations of fake vote casting were also reported in Rajshahi.
Our Rangpur correspondent reported that a mobile court fined AL backed mayoral candidate Shahadat Hossain Sabuj Tk 500 for not using the authorisation sticker on his car while visiting polling centres in Sundarganj of Gaibandha.

