M’SINGH, CUMILLA Cities: Titu, Suchona win big

Amid polling marked by sporadic incidents of violence, Awami League leader Tahsin Bahar Suchona was voted Cumilla city mayor while in Mymensingh, Ekramul Haque Titu, also a ruling party leader, is set to be the mayor for the second time in a row.

Suchona, organising secretary of Cumilla city AL and daughter of lawmaker AKM Baha Uddin Bahar, beat expelled BNP leader and two-time mayor Monirul Hoque Sakku by 21,993 votes.

Suchona got 48,890 votes, according to Returning Officer Farhad Hossain who announced the unofficial results at Cumilla Zilla School in the evening.

The other candidates, expelled BNP leader Nizam Uddin Kaiser got 13,155 votes and Noor-ur Rahman Mahmud Tanim, got 5,173. Voter turnout was 38.82 percent.

Polling started at 8:00am and around two hours later, three mayoral candidates alleged that Suchona and her supporters were driving their polling agents out of polling centres.

Suchona said the allegations were false.

Mayor candidate Nizam said around 10:00am, his supporters Zahirul Ahmed and Tuhin were shot outside the polling centre at Munshi M Ali High School.

Talking to reporters at Comilla Medical College Hospital, Zahirul said he was standing next to the polling centre when one of Suchona’s supporters shot him and Tuhin in front of the police.

Police detained Abu Sufian Antu, 27, a member of Cumilla City Chhatra Dal, in connection with the incident.

His family members said Antu was at home when the shooting took place.

In Mymensingh, Titu, the president of Mymensingh city AL, won the election with 1.39 lakh votes while his nearest rival Sadequl Hoque Khan Milky Tazu got 35,763.

Voters in different neighbourhoods complained that the Electronic Voting Machines were slow to read their fingerprints and caused long queues at polling centres.

Even after polling officially ended at 4:00pm, people were casting votes and there were queues at some centres.

Rita Rani, a voter, said, “I have been standing here in the queue for one and a half hours to cast my vote. I heard the machine is not working.”

The Daily Star talked to at least 20 polling agents who alleged that many people had to return without casting their vote because the machines could not process their fingerprints.

Dipak Chandra Das, known as the oldest person of the city, had to cast his vote using the presiding officer’s fingerprint as the machine at Nasirabad Girls High School centre could not read his fingerprint.