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Narsingdi By-polls

Brother succeeds Lokman in big win

RASHIDUL Hasan, from Narsingdi
Voters in Narsingdi municipality by-election yesterday apparently showed "posthumous honour" to slain mayor Lokman Hossain, casting their votes wholesale in favour of his brother Kamruzzaman ensuring his landslidevictory.
Awami League supported candidate Kamruzzaman bagged 35,569 votes to succeed his brother. His nearest rival Montaz Uddin Bhuiyan, president,
Narsingdi city AL, supported by Posts and
Telecommunications Minister Raju Uddin Ahmed, got 13,813 votes.
Four other candidates — Amzad Hossain (1,589 votes),
Afzal Hossain (553 votes), Mosabbir Ahmed (463 votes) and Ariful Islam (151 votes) — lost deposited money as
they got nominal votes compared to the winning candidate.
Of the 31 poling centres, Montaz won in a single centre, an election official told The Daily Star, adding, he even lost in his own local centre.
Voting kicked off at 8:00am with unprecedented foolproof security measures in place. Voters braving cold weather wholeheartedly thronged different centres to cast their votes. A large numbers of voters were well dressed and seen in a festive mood, making the turnout 67.2 percent, informed Assistant Returning Officer Nazrul Islam.
In an instant reaction, winner Kamruzzaman and Nusrat Tamanna Bubli, widow of the slain mayor, in emotion-chocked voice said they are overwhelmed
by the love the people of Narsingdi have shown.
"Voters of Narsingdi have not betrayed the blood of my husband. They have evaluated his contributions and devotion for the welfare of the district," Nusrat told reporters with tear rolling down her checks.
Amid a free, fair and peaceful atmosphere, many voters, especially women and elderly people, were seen coming out from different booths, 198 in total, with smiling faces.
Asked, Nabi Newaz, 75, said it took just a minute to cast his vote thanks to the machine [electronic voting machine]. 'Tn the last municipality polls in 2011,1 needed at least 10 minutes to complete voting formalities," he said.
The post of mayor fell vacant after the country's two times best mayor Lokman was shot dead on
November 1 last year inside the district AL headquarters. Considered as a very popular mayor for his contributions, Lokman won the hearts of people, voters said.
Although six candidates contested the mayoral race, the battle of ballots was projected to be fought between the prime minister-blessed Kamruzzaman and Montaz, who is also an accused in the Lokman murder case.
Hundreds of voters of all ages and all walks of life were seen crying in joy and celebrating after Returning Officer Md Abdul Wadud declared Kamruzzaman winner at around 5:30pm.
"People of Narsingdi are missing Lokman very much at this happy moment. This feeling caused mixed emotions in our minds. Today's victory brings tears in our eyes as well as makes us
happy," Maulana Habibur, imam of a local mosque, said.
Businessman Swapan Saha said, "We wanted to give Lokman bhai a posthumous award for his good deeds by making his brother towin."
Before casting his vote, Hasan Habib, a college teacher, told this correspondent, "We have no alternatives to supporting Lokman's brother. This is only for choosing a proper successor to Lokman, who changed the sorry state of our district."
Except one or two stray incidents, the eight-hour polls went quite peaceful. A huge number of members of law-enforcement agencies kept patrolling on every road in the poll areas.
A dog squad was also on guard to check any suspicious activities or movement.