Jatiya Party candidate Mostafizur Rahman won the Rangpur City Corporation polls held on Thursday defeating his nearest rival Awami League contender Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu by a huge margin. According to the unofficial results, Mostafiz bagged 1,60,489 votes while Jhantu polled 62,400 and BNP candidate Kawsar Jahan Babla got only 35,136 votes. A total of 2,92,723 votes were cast as the turnout was 74.30.
A good number of voters, including female were seen at different polling station to franchise their votes. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) instead of ballot paper were used at a polling station as a test run in the election. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras were also installed in three polling stations to monitor the election uninterruptedly. The EC set up two monitoring cells - one in Rangpur and another in the EC Secretariat in Dhaka- to watch the election continuously.
The Commission sent its own observer team, numbering 22 officials, to monitor the polls. Alongside over 5,500 law enforcers, 11 judicial magistrates and 33 executive magistrates were engaged in checking any possible breaching of the electoral code of conduct.
Despite all these measures, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed blamed the Election Commission for its failure in holding the election in a free, fair and credible manner. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said their party still has no confidence in the Election Commission though the Rangpur city election was more or less acceptable. The BNP leader further gave a proposal to constitute the Election Commission with noted persons whom people can trust. They believe, the Rangpur election was not a major one. The real pulse of the Commission can be assessed when there'll be a major election.
Despite BNP's frustration, this election was peaceful compare to the other recent elections. However, only this is not going to solve the structural problem regarding the upcoming national election. Till now not all the parties agree on what sort of power the army should have during the elections which is likely to be held in December 2018 or 2019. Some want it deployed with magistracy power while others want it as a strike force in case an untoward situation developed.
The EC had also talked to civil society members, editors, and senior journalists about the elections. Most civil society members spoke of restoring the "No Vote" system and ensuring a level-playing field for all political parties. Next general election is coming in 2019. And, no one expect another 2014-like general election.
