The mayoral by-election to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is set to be held today (Thursday). The voting will take place between 8:00am to 4:00pm without any interval. The mayoral election, boycotted by the BNP, will see a fight among a total of five candidates- ruling Awami League nominee Atiqul Islam, Jatiya Party's Shafin Ahmed, National People's Party's Anisur Rahman Dewan, Progressive Democratic Party's Shahin Khan and an independent candidate, Abdur Rahim.
The tenure of the DNCC mayor remains only one year as late mayor Annisul Huq was elected on April 28 in 2015 for a five-year term.
Alongside the mayoral race, elections will be held for the posts of councillors at the 18 new Wards in DNCC and 18 new Wards in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and for six reserved women councillor seats in DNCC and six in DSCC. A by-poll for councillor posts in Ward No 21 in DNCC will also be held today.
A total of 116 candidates will contest for 18 councillor posts, 45 candidates for six reserved councillors, and seven candidates for Ward No 21 by-poll in DNCC. In DSCC, a total of 125 candidates will contest for 18 councillor posts and 24 candidates for six reserved councillor posts.
Meanwhile, the government has declared a public holiday today in both the DNCC and DSCC electoral areas.
The Election Commission has imposed restrictions on motorbikes from plying in the areas till Friday and movement of mechanical vehicles including buses, trucks, cars, Tempos and auto-rickshaws today, the day of the voting.
In the DNCC mayoral race, 3,035,621 voters can exercise their franchise at 1,295 polling stations while 590,705 voters for Ward councillors in the city corporation. In the DSCC, 496,735 voters can exercise their voting rights to elect candidates for the councillor posts.
In DNCC, the fight for the mayoral post will mainly take place between AL candidate Atiqul Islam, former president of BGMEA, with 'boat' symbol and Jatiya Party candidate Shafin Ahmed, a noted singer with 'plough' symbol as the BNP boycotted the election. In the last election on April 28 in 2015, a tough contest was seen between the AL candidate Annisul Huq and BNP candidate Tabith Awal. Annisul Huq was elected the mayor.
Following the death of the mayor on November 30 in 2017, the DNCC mayoral post fell vacant.
On January 9 last year, the Election Commission had announced the schedule of the DNCC by-polls and election in the new Wards, fixing February 26 of 2018 for the voting. But the election was not held as the High Court stayed the election schedule for six months. The court order came following three writ petitions filed challenging the legality of the schedule.
Finally in January this year, the court cleared the way for the DNCC by-election and election to the new Wards.
