The peaceful and festive voting in the Gazipur City Corporation polls ended yesterday with a lot of people waiting to see if the BNP siege had made the Awami League fortress crumble.
Despite the election being non-partisan in nature, the mayoral race, grabbing all the attention, was basically between the BNP-blessed MA Mannan and the Awami League-backed Ajmat Ullah Khan.
Braving the scorching heat and brief afternoon showers, men, women and the elderly queued up at polling centres to elect a mayor and 76 councillors to run their city. Some voters even had their children accompanying them.
Enthusiastic voters gathered at the 392 polling centres before voting began at 8:00am. A huge number of law enforcers had been deployed to maintain security. Within hours, the centres turned into places
bustling with voters.
The Daily Star teams, covering the election, talked to many presiding officers, polling agents and voters at nearly 100 centres. All were happy with the election atmosphere, saying that voting had taken place in a free and fair manner.
None said anything about vote rigging or casting false votes but there were complaints about slow moving queues.
At Mariali Govt Primary
School in Salna around 9:00am, polling agent Nur-A Alam of BNP-backed mayoral candidate MA Mannan complained about slow voting but he was happy with the atmosphere.
Ruling party-backed Ajmat Ullah Khan's agent Akhter Hossain had nothing to be unhappy about.
"Voting is going on in a very fair and nice manner," Mannan's polling agent Sukur Ali said at Rover Palli Govt High School. Sitting
rnuivi i
beside him was Zahidul Islam, an agent of Ajmat, who echoed Sukur.
Ajmat termed the voting peaceful but his opponent Mannan blamed Ajmat and election officials of rigging the polls.
Ajmat cast his vote at around 9:00am at Little Flower School centre in Gazipur. "I will respect the voters' decision," he said afterwards.
Casting his vote at Salna Islamia Fazil (Degree) Madrasa centre at 9:25am, Mannan expressed confidence in winning if the election was free and fair.
Jahangir Alam, an Awami League rebel candidate who had quit the race on the instructions of party high-ups, said his symbol, pineapple, on ballot papers might have a negative impact on his party-blessed candidate Ajmat.
"I requested all not to vote for my symbol,"
JahangirtoldThe Daily Star.
Voters, especially female ones, expressed frustration at many centres as they had to wait in queues for a long time in the scorching heat. There were some physically challenged voters among them.
Almost all modes of vehicles were on the streets of Gazipur, violating the electoral code of conduct.
Some alleged that a few councillors had hired rickshaws to bring in voters from their homes.
WOMEN CAMPAIGNING
A good number of women were seen trying to persuade voters near the entrance of many polling centres, even though the time for campaigning ended at midnight Thursday.
Some were relatives of candidates while some were their supporters.
Smiling broadly, they were making a last-ditch effort to woo voters.
A woman, standing out-side Teknag Para
Government Primary School polling centre, was holding a handbill of her brother-in-law who was running for councillor. Every time a voter came, she appealed, "Please vote for him.”
She said, "I came here before 8:00am and sought votes. My sister and other family members are working at other polling centres."
Five women were chanting slogans and seeking votes for a councillor candidate in front of West Chandana Govt Primary School gate near Gazipur Chourasta.
"He [Moslem] is the most capable person here. So he will win,” oneofthewomensaid. FESTIVITY
A festive mood prevailed at the polling centres, especially in the rural areas.
Temporary food stalls offering hot snacks were outside polling centres in some areas with many small vendors hovering around.
Many voters brought their children along with them. And some children just went to watch.
"This is the first time I am seeing any election. It's a whole lot of fun," said class-IV student Tafsir Ahmed of Rover Palli High School at Bahadurpur.
Setting up a makeshift shop near the polling centre, Jashim was selling piyaju (a traditional snack made with onions and lentils), fried peas and other items. He said the sale was quite good.
HIGH-TECH HELP
Supporters of many candidates used laptops at some polling centres to help voters with necessary information.
Zobeda Khatun instantly got her serial number on the voter list after she gave the last five digits of her national ID card at Darus Sunnat Karamotia Madrasha. "This is fast and accurate," she said.