Dhaka, March 01 – Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda on Friday revealed three reasons behind the low voter’s turnout in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) by-polls that held on February 28.
He said there were some reasons behind the low presence of voters. The first being that this is a short-term election and polls will be conducted again next year. The other reason may be that voters didn’t
anticipate a competitive election as some political parties have stayed away from the polls. The third one may be the bad weather in the last few days.
The CEC came up with the remarks while speaking to the journalist after attending the rally on the occasion of National Voter day.
The rally started from the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban and ended at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC).
Expressing his satisfaction over the DNCC by-polls, the CEC said this is not the actual image of the country’s voting. The people of the country want to cast their vote in standing a long queue.
“We have ensured an environment for voting. Everyone’s franchise has come back completely,” said the CEC.
On February 28, DNCC mayoral by-election was held where the Awami League’s (AL) mayoral candidate Atiqul Islam, was elected, receiving 8, 39,302 votes from all 1,295 polling centres.
Jatiya Party’s Shafin Ahmed remained a distant second with a mere 52,429 votes in the same number of centres. In the election 31.05 per cent votes were polled.
Besides, the DNCC mayoral post, elections for the 36 councillor posts and 12 reserved seats in the 36 new wards -18 of the DNCC and 18 of the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) )- also held on the same day.
Earlier on April 28, 2015, the Dhaka North and South City Corporation elections were held. The mayoral post of DNCC became vacant when DNCC Mayor Anisul Haque died on November 30, 2017. – Staff Reporter
