Delwar Hossain
Out of the 712 Union Council polls held during the 1st phase, the results of 522 Union Councils have been published by the Election Commission. Awami League nominated chairman candidates have won 394 elections whereas BNP nominated chairman candidates have won only 35. The Nationalist Party won 1, the Workers Party won 2, JSD won 3, Jatiya Party-JP won 7 and Islami Protest Bangladesh won 1 of the 522 Union Council polls.
17 political parties had participated in the 1st phase of the UC polls. Awami League candidates were elected as chairmen in 54 of the 712 councils as they had no opposition. In those unions, polls were held to elect only general and reserved seat members for the councils. The Election Commission postponed elections of 65 polling centers due to indiscipline and chaos.
The percentage of votes cast for Awami League in the 522 Union Council Elections is 34.03%. The percentage of votes cast for BNP stands at 10.47%. Independent candidates received 14.44% of the votes cast at these 522 UC polls.
EC Secretary Md. Sirajul Islam said, “This is the first time that 73.82% of votes were cast to elect a chairman in an election held under party symbols.”
Translated by: Sumaiya Kabir