Winning their positions as mayors with overwhelming majorities, it is now time to fulfill their pledges they had vowed to execute for the voters.
Both the mayors, Atiqul Islam (North) and Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapas (South) had pledged to make the capital Dhaka a modern megacity with advanced technology to support the public services.
They had also pledged to free the city of unwanted traffic congestions, waterlogging and slums spread all over the city. General people expect them to live up to their promises saying that in 2020 people expect leaders to understand the minimum problems faced by the public.
Atiqul-Tapas, the city's father of two portions of Dhaka, got the majority of votes representing the ruling Awami League.
Muntakim Bin Sarwar, a voter of south Dhaka said, “We have chosen our mayor entrusting him to deliver the minimum basic amenities. I am very hopeful of accomplishing the pledges.”
He said that the transport, drainage in rainy monsoon, and dengue infection would be a major challenge to the mayor.
Sabrina Zaman a resident of Mohammadpur Nurjahan road said, “We are expecting a women-friendly city as security is our major concern. Hopefully, our mayors look forward to these issues.”
“I’ve voted for the first time it was full of excitement. Besides in my opinion voting system needed to be more transparent, she added.
A private bank employee Prashanta Das who lives in old Dhaka said, “ Like earlier this election was nonviolent. Our expectations are high for communal harmony.”
Voting began in two cities simultaneously at 8 am on Saturday and ended at 4 pm. During the voting, there were reports of scattered clashes, cocktails and attacks on journalists in some places.
There is also the phenomenon of complication when voting in EVMs. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda himself also faced difficulties while voting in EVM.
Awami League’s Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) mayoral candidate Atiqul Islam secured 447,211 votes to win the election while his nearest rival candidate, BNP’s Tabith Awal, got 264,161 votes in the 1,318 centers.
The Election Commission announced the results of the DNCC mayoral polls and declared Atiqul Islam unofficially elected today at 2:39am. Voter turnout in the DNCC polls was 25.30 percent, said Abul Kashem, the returning officer for Dhaka North.
Meanwhile, AL mayoral aspirant Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh received 424,595 votes to be elected unofficially the mayor to Dhaka South City Corporation, beating his nearest rival BNP’s Ishraque Hossain by 188,083 votes. Ishraque bagged 236,512 votes. A total of 7,11,488 valid votes were cast at 1150 centres in yesterday’s DSCC elections, the EC said, indicating a 29pc turnout. DSCC Returning Officer Abdul Baten announced the results around 12:38am today.
The elections, marked by a low turnout, were mostly peaceful with electronic voting machines (EVMs) used at all polling centres.
At a post-election briefing at the Election Commission yesterday evening, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda said, the elections to the two Dhaka city corporations were satisfactory and the commission did not receive any major complaint from anyone.
“The elections were good, but I do not know about the percentage of the vote cast as I did not get the total result yet. I expect this will be below 30 percent,” he said.
