Sakku ahead of Rifat in Comilla city polls

Former BNP leader Monirul Haque Sakku has received the highest number of votes so far in the Comilla City Corporation elections leaving behind his main rival Awami League candidate Arfanul Haque Rifat.

The counting of votes started at the District Shilpakala Academy after 4pm on Wednesday. Comilla City Corporation elections have so far yielded results from 54 centres.

District Returning Officer Shahedunnabi Chowdhury announced the results in the afternoon.

Rifat received 47,863 votes in 101 centres (unofficially) while the two-time former mayor received 48,492 till 8pm.

According to the Returning Officer’s Office, there were a total of 2,29,920 voters in the elections.

Of them, 1,17,092 were female, 1,12,826 were male and two others were transgender voters. Voting took place in 640 centres of 105 polling stations overall.

In the election, there were five candidates for the post of mayor, 106 for the post of general councillor and 36 for the post of reserved women councillor.

The five mayoral candidates are Awami League nominee Arfanul Haque Rifat (boat), independent candidate Monirul Haque Sakku (table clock), Mohammad Nizamuddin Kaiser (horse), Rashedul Islam (hand fan) and Kamrul Ahsan Babul (deer symbol).

Voting in 27 wards in Comilla City Corporation elections ended without any reports of major violence.

The voting ran across a total of 105 polling centres from 8am and continued till 4pm without any break on Wednesday.