“There’s no major irregularity in the election, except some stray incidents, and the victory and defeat will be ensured with the difference of a low margin of votes,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference at Jatiya Party chairman’s Banani office after the end of voting, Shafin further said,” I’ll accept whatever the results may be.”
He said though the voter turnout was very low in the morning due to bad weather, the presence of voters increased sharply in the afternoon.
“Though I’d some concerns at the beginning of the day, the election was held in a fair and peaceful manner at the end of the day,” the Jatiya Party candidate observed.
Earlier, after casting his vote at Manarat International School centre in the city’s Gulshan area around 12:20pm, Shafin brought the allegation of some irregularities in the voting.
He, however, did not specify the allegations.
“I cast my vote here at Manarat School. Before that, I visited some polling satiations since morning. The election atmosphere at this centre is fine as I haven’t seen any irregularity. But I found some irregularities at other centres where I visited,” Shafin told reporters.
The opposition candidate also said they have collected some evidence of voting irregularities. “Still, I want to see the rest of the time of the voting, and I’ll visit some more polling stations.”
Replying to a question whether he is hopeful about his victory, Shafin said, “I shouldn’t voice my frustration or success right now as still a long to go by while people have started now coming to polling stations due to rain in the morning. Let’s see what happen during the rest of the time.”
About the low turnout of voters, he said people have lost their interests in voting due to irregularities in the previous elections. “Voters might be thinking their votes have no value and that’s why they are not coming to polling stations.”
Voting in the by-election to the mayoral post of DNCC, and in 36 wards of Dhaka north and south city corporations began at 8am amid rain and continued until 4 pm without any break.
Five candidates are vying for the mayoral post, while 116 contenders for 18 general councillor posts and 45 aspirants for six reserved seats which are exclusively for women. Of them, one general councillor candidate was elected unopposed in the city.
The five mayoral candidates are Awami League’s Atiqul Islam (Boat), Jatiya Party’s Shafin Ahmed (Plough), NPP’s Anisur Rahman (Mango) and PDP’s Shahin Khan (Tiger) and independent runner Abdur Rahim (Table Clock).