Dhaka North City Corporation has witnessed a low turnout in the early hours of the mayoral by-election, which polling officials attributed to rains that have been going on for the last few days.
Begun at 8:00 am through 1,286 voting centres in the DNCC, voting will continue until 4:00 pm on Thursday. More than 3.0 million people are expected to exercise their right in the by-poll.
As few as one to 32 votes were cast at some polling stations until 10:00 in the morning.
Khan Humayun Kabir, presiding officer of Kaziparha’s Little Flower International School polling centre, said only 14 votes were cast there until 9:00 am.
Of Juvenile Care School polling station at Mirpur Lalkuti, presiding officer Mohsin Miah said only 32 votes were cast until 10:30 am.
All the officials in charge of the polling stations say the voter turnout was drastically low in the beginning hours due to the rains only.
As well as the rains, the boycott by BNP, the arch rival of the ruling Awami League, is, however, understood to have put a damper on the voters.
Even some councillor candidates and DNCC mayoral candidate Atitul Islam admitted this.
After casting his vote at a Uttara polling centre around 9:00 am, Awami League’s candidate Atiqul said this election would have been more participatory if “another party [BNP) were in the election”.
A total of five candidates are running in the fray to succeed former DNCC mayor Anisul Huq, after whose death on November 30, 2017 the mayoral post in the North fell vacant.
Of them, Atiqul, also a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), is leading the race.
More than 3.0 million voters are expected to exercise their franchise in this mayoral by-polls.
