Ivy, again

Selina Hayat Ivy has won a landslide victory to retake mayoral office in a peaceful election to the Narayanganj City Corporation held amid tight security and much enthusiasm yesterday. 

Ivy, the ruling Awami League candidate, bagged 1,75, 611 votes, beating her nearest rival BNP's Shakhawat Hossain Khan by 79,567 votes. Shakhawat got 96,044 votes, according to unofficial results announced by the returning officer (RO) last night.

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Voters' turnout was 62.33 percent, said Nuruzzaman Talukder, the RO.

Ivy had won the maiden NCC mayoral polls in October 2011 by defeating the AL-backed candidate Shamim Osman with a margin of more than one lakh votes.

Ivy, the then vice-president of Narayanganj city AL, did not get her party's support in that election.

So her win was considered a repeat of history. Her father Ali Ahmed Chunka, a popular labour leader, won the Narayanganj municipality chairman polls in 1974 without his own party AL's support.

This time Ivy contested the polls, held on party lines, as AL candidate and resigned as mayor to join the polls race. 

In her reaction last night, Ivy thanked the city people for electing her for another five years. "People irrespective of their political affiliation elected me. I will work taking everybody on board.”

She dedicated the win to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and AL chief Sheikh Hasina.

After the results, Shakhawat alleged of “subtle rigging” and “manipulation of the elections results”. 

Earlier in the day, he said, “I will accept the results if the polls are held fairly till the end.”

Shakhawat, a newcomer in politics, came to the limelight by leading a street protest against the 2014 seven murders in Narayanganj. Also a counsel for one victim family, he never held any public office before.

Ivy's win is a big boost for the AL, as it is the first time since 2010 that an AL-backed mayor candidate beat rival BNP's candidate in a competitive city polls.

In April last year, the AL-backed candidates won all three mayoral posts in three city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong, which the BNP candidates boycotted in the midway. Fairness of the polls was questioned due to various electoral irregularities, including ballot stuffing.

But yesterday's NCC election was completely different.

Brushing aside all fear factors centring on the election, contesting candidates, their supporters, polls officials, law enforcers and, most importantly, the voters displayed a high confidence in the election process.

Election experts see this as a welcome departure from the voting-day violence and irregularities in some elections in recent years.

During voting, the two frontrunners expressed satisfaction over the polling in the river port city of 4.74 lakh voters.

In the 2011 polls in Narayanganj, about 16km south of the capital, Ivy ran as an independent candidate against Shamim Osman.

This time, the AL top brass picked her and made sure that Osman cast no shadow on her winning prospect.

Voters lined up in long queues since early morning, some even before polling booths opened at 8:00am.

The Daily Star reporters saw people, including elderly men, women and challenged persons, exercising their voting rights with much enthusiasm till polls closed at 4:00pm.

“It is a fair election that will be a model in the history of Bangladesh,” said Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ahsan Habib, while visiting Adamjeenagar Government Primary School and MW High School polling centres.

“We did not get any complaints of irregularities during the visit,” said Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka Md Kaisarul Islam.

He led a six-member team of magistrates who visited several centres.

After the voting, Returning Officer Nuruzzaman Talukder told The Daily Star that the election was held in a fair and peaceful manner.

Voters were upbeat too.

Abdur Rahman, who sells tea at Nabiganj in Bandar, said he was very happy that he could vote without any interference for the first time in 10 years.

Delowar Hossain, a disabled mason, voted at 31 No. Phulpur Government Primary School centre.

“I did not vote in previous general election, fearing violence. I wanted to cast my vote this time, and I'm happy that I've been able to do so peacefully,” he told The Daily Star.

During voting, neither of the two frontrunners had any complaints of irregularities or rules violation in any of the 174 voting centres.

“People are voting in a festive mood. All the law enforcers are active,” said Ivy, after casting her vote at Shishubagh School centre at 9:30am.

Mahbubur Rahman Ismail, a candidate from Revolutionary Workers' Party, also expressed his satisfaction.

Seven mayor and 194 councillor candidates ran for office. Of the councillor candidates, 27 are general ward councillors and nine are women councillors (reserved).

About 9,500 law enforcers were deployed to maintain security.

One police official at Srama Kalyan polling centre in Bandar said, “I have been on election duty several times in the past. But this is for the first time I've been able to carry out my duty fairly.”

Initially voting suggested that voters' turnout would be very high, though it was about 63 percent in the end, according of polls officials.

The turnout was about 70 percent in 2011.