Taimur Alam Khandaker, the defeated independent candidate in the Narayanganj City Corporation mayoral election, termed his defeat as the defeat of the government on Sunday.

He made the remarks in a press briefing after his defeat was ascertained by the landslide victory of Awami League mayoral candidate Selina Hayat Ivy on Sunday evening.

Taimur said, “The defeat was of the government, not ours.”

He said it all started from arresting his chief coordinator at Siddhirganj police station and after that everyday his supporters had been arrested.

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“While filing case against them they were identified as Hefazat-e-Islam members even though many of them were Hindu by religion,” he said.

Taimur claimed from Sunday morning eight people were arrested who were in his support including his Bandar upazila coordinator. Besides, numerous raids were conducted including at his chief polling agent’s house, he said.

“In these circumstances it’s hard for an independent candidate to survive anyway.”

Taimur said in many centres Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were defective and slow, due to which many voters couldn’t cast their vote and it only contributed more to his defeat.

He said, “The game was government vs public and also government vs Taimur.”

Ivy, the country’s first female city mayor, also became the first person ever to be elected thrice as mayor of any city in the country, as she secured a landslide victory by a margin of 69, 102 votes over Taimur.

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She bagged 1,61,273 votes while her nearest contestant Taimur Alam polled 92, 171.

Returning officer Mahfuza Akter announced the results on Sunday evening, a few hours after voting ended. Voting had continued past 4pm due to the slow pace of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and the presence of voters in some centres of Bandar upazila.