Rangpur City to elect Mayor and councilors on Tuesday

The people of Rangpur City Corporation (RpCC) on Tuesday (27 December, 2022) will elect their Mayor and councilors by voting that will be going on from 0830hrs to 1630hrs,  

The third Rangpur City Corporation election will be held at all 1,349 booths of a total of 229 polling centres using electronic voting machines (EVMs. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Administration in a notification today declared a public holiday tomorrow in the electoral area of RpCC as sought by the Election Commission to enable every voter in casting their votes.Common voters are expecting a triangular contest among mayoral post candidates Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia (Boat) of Awami League, Md. Mostafizar Rahman (Plough) of Jatiya Party and Independent candidate Latifur Rahman (Elephant). 

The six other mayoral post candidates are: Md. Amiruzzaman of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (Hand fan), Md. Abu Raihan of Bangladesh Congress (Green coconut), Md. Tauhidur Rahman Mondal of Khelafat Majlish (Wall clock), Md. Shafiar Rahman of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal- JASOD (Moshal), Md. Mehedi Hasan (Independent-Deer) and Md. Khorshed Alam of Zaker Party (Rose flower).

A total of 260 candidates, including nine for mayoral, 183 for 33 general councilors‍‍` and 68 for 11 reserved female councilors‍‍` posts, are contesting in the RpCC Elections-2022 and their hectic last moment electioneering ended last night.

A BSS report says that  Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Nure Alam Mina and Returning Officer (RO) for RpCC Elections-2022 Md. Abdul Baten in a special press briefing on Monday informed journalists that six-tier security measures have been taken for peaceful holding of RpCC polls amid complete security blanket.

They also gave necessary directions to the election officials and members of security forces for properly holding the RpCC polls before their departure with EVMs and other election materials to the polling centres this afternoon.

Talking to BSS, the RO said all 229 presiding officers, 1,349 assistant presiding officers and 2,698 polling officers with EVMs and other election inputs and security forces already reached polling centres today.

Polling will begin from 8:30 am tomorrow in all 2,698 polling booths of 229 polling centres under all 33 wards and continue till 4:30 pm uninterruptedly and counting of votes will start subsequently at District Shilpokola Academy auditorium in the city. 

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 will remain on duty during the RpCC polls. 

"Fifteen security forces including five armed personnel will patrol at each of the 133 normal polling centres while 16 security personnel with six armed personnel will be deployed at each of the other 86 important polling centres," the RO said.