Symbols were distributed by the Election Commission (EC) on Friday among the Mayoral and Ward Councillor candidates in the upcoming Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) elections slated for January 30. Returning Officer Abul Kashem distributed the symbols among the mayoral candidates of the DNCC election in the morning at the National Institute of Local Government (NILG) in the city’s Agargaon area.
Awami League candidate Atiqul Islam got the party symbol ‘Boat’, BNP aspirant Tabith Awal received his party symbol 'Sheaf of Paddy', Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) Ahmmed Sahedul Huq Rubel got his party symbol ‘Scythe’, Islami Andolan candidate Sheikh Fazle Bari Masud got ‘Hand Fan’, National People’s Party(NPP) candidate Anisur Rahman Dewan got’ Mango’ and PDP candidate Shahin Khan got ‘Tiger’ symbol.
Meanwhile, Returning Officer Abdul Baten allotted electoral symbols to the mayoral candidates of the DSCC election at the Muktijuddha Sadeque Hossain Khoka Community Centre at Gopibagh in the city. Awami League mayoral candidate Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh was allocated 'Boat' symbol, BNP aspirant Ishraque Hossain got 'Sheaf of Paddy' symbol and accordingly Mohammad Saifuddin of Jatiya Party got ‘Plough’ symbol, Abdur Rahman of Islami Andolan ‘Hand Fan’, Bahrane Sultan Bahar of National People’s Party (NPP) got ‘Mango’, Akteruzzaman alias Ayatullah of Bangladesh Congress got ‘Green Coconut’ and Abdus Samad Sujan of Gano Front got ‘Fish” symbol.
The EC authorities also distributed electoral symbols among all the candidates for the general Ward Councillors’ and women’s reserved posts. According to the EC, a total of 758 candidates are contesting for the two Mayoral, 129 general Ward Councillor posts and 43 for reserved seats for women.
According to the EC, there are around 54 lakh voters in two city corporations. Of them, 30.36 lakh are under 54 wards in the DNCC and 23.67 lakh under 75 wards in the DSCC. In the upcoming elections, the number of possible polling stations will be 2,500 in the two cities.