Voting begins to elect Rangpur City Corporation Mayor and Councilors

Voting in Rangpur City Corporation has begun on Tuesday morning. The third Rangpur City Corporation election is being held at all 1,349 booths of a total of 229 polling centres using electronic voting machines (EVMs.

Thhe voting has begun at 8am in the morning and will be going on till 4pm, said Returning Officer Abdul Baten.

Women voters queue up to cast votes for the Rangpur City Corporation election at a polling centre in Rangpur. Photo: Sajid Hossain

A good number of candidates are vying for the mayoral post while 183 people are contesting for councillor posts under 33 wards. Sixty-eight candidates are contesting the polls for 11 reserved seats.

The mayoral candidates are: Amiruzzaman from Islami Andolon Bangladesh, Abu Raihan from Bangladesh Congress, Touhidur Rahman Mandal from Khelafat Majlish, Mostafizur Rahman from Jatiya Party, Shafier Rahman from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia from Awami League, Khorshed Alam from Zaker Party, Mehedi Hasan and Latifur Rahman as independent candidates.

This year, a total of 4,26,470 voters are expected to vote in the city corporation election.

All preparations have been taken to hold a free and fair election, the official said.

Mobile court drives were being conducted to ensure that the election code is followed, he said.

Campaigning in the Rangpur City Corporation election ended on Sunday midnight amid much enthusiasm.

Adequate number of members of law enforcement agencies including police, Ansar-VDP, APBN, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been deployed for holding the RpCC-2022 polls peacefully amid tight security blankets.

Thirty-three roving teams, 11 striking force teams and six reserved striking force teams comprising Police, APBN and Battalion Ansar and VDP, 17 teams of RAB and 11 more teams of BGB remain on duty during the RpCC polls.

A total of 229 presiding officers, 1,349 assistant presiding officers and 2,698 polling officers are performing their duties to maintain order in the voting centres.

The first Rangpur City Corporation election was held on December 21, 2017. The tenure of the current mayor will expire on February 18, 2023.