The wife of a councillor of No 3 ward of Narayanganj City Corporation committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a building at Chashara Balur Math in Narayanganj on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Sadia Nijhu, 1st wife of Councillor Shahajalal Badal. Anisur Rahman Molla, officer-in-charge of Sadar Model Police Station, said Sadia used to live with her mother as Councillor Badal abandoned her after his second marriage. Sadia jumped off the seven-storey building in the morning. Also read: SUST student dies ‘by suicide’ Later, she was taken to Narayanganj General Hospital where the doctors declared her dead. However, the phone number of Councillor Badal was found switched off. On February 8, 2022, Sadia in a press briefing at her residence alleged that Councillor Badal 'abandoned' her and married another woman without taking permission from Sadia. According to the allegation of Sadia, she married to Badal in 2007 and the couple has been blessed with a child through IVF (In vitro fertilization). Besides, Badal is the nephew of Nur Hossain, a death row convict in the sensational Narayanganj seven-murder case.  

Newly elected mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) Dr Selina Hayat Ivy, 36 councillors, including nine councillors of reserved seats, were sworn in on Wednesday. The swearing-in ceremony was held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined it from her official residence Ganobhaban. Hasina administered oath to mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy, while LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Md Tajul Islam administered oath to 27 councillors and nine councillors of reserved seats being present in-person at the ceremony. Awami League candidate Selina Hayat Ivy was elected mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation for the third consecutive term in an election held on January 16. She beat her nearest rival Taimur Alam Khondker by 66,535 votes. READ: NCC Polls: Ivy rewrites history with a hat-trick Ivy, who contested the election with the symbol of "Boat", secured 1,59,097 votes to win the election against independent candidate Taimur Alam, who bagged 92,166 votes with the symbol of "Elephant". READ: ‘Boat will surely win,’ says Ivy         

BNP on Tuesday expelled Taimur Alam Khandakar, defeated independent mayoral candidate in the recently held Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) polls, and its Narayanganj city unit general secretary ATM Kamal for violating party discipline. ATM Kamal was chief election agent of Taimur. Two separate letters were sent to  Taimur and Kamal from BNP’s Nayapaltan central office on Tuesday night. BNP had a decision not to join any election under the current government, but Taimur contested the NCC polls ignoring the party’s stance. BNP Senior Joint Secretary General  Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told UNB that the action was taken against the duo for their involvement in anti-party activities and thus violating the party discipline.  He said said their party high command took the decision as per the party charter. READ: The defeat is of the government: Taimur “The decision will come into effect immediately,” the BNP leader said. He said both the BNP leaders were expelled from the party’s all posts, including the primary membership. READ: Ivy keeps her promise, visits Taimur with flowers and sweets Taimur was earlier relieved from the party chairperson Khaleda Zia's advisor post and also from the Narayanganj district convener post for contesting the NCC polls.

Some 50 per cent voters cast ballots in the Narayanganj City Corporation election that was held peacefully on Sunday, said Secretary of the Election Commission (EC) Md. Humayun Kabir Khandaker. The Tangail-7 by-polls and five municipalities’ elections were held peacefully on the day, he said at a post-election conference at the EC Secretariat here on Sunday evening. Read: NCC polls: Voting ends peacefully, counting begins “According to initial assumptions, the voter turnout was some 50 per cent in Narayanganj City Corporation election. Besides, the voter turnout was some 31 per cent in Tangail-7 by-polls and some 60 per cent in five municipalities,” said the EC secretary. Noting that there was a massive turnout of voters in all election areas, the EC official said the EC monitored all the elections through its control room. “So far none has lodged any complaint and no untoward incident has been reported there. The Tangail-7 by-polls as well as Narayanganj City Corporation and five municipalities’ elections held peacefully,” he said. About the slow vote-casting through Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs), he said the EC earlier arranged mock voting through EVMs in Narayanganj. But the response of voters was low to the mock voting. Read:NCC polls see good voter turnout, says Returning Officer Since it needed to explain the system before the voters while they were in queues, it might take time, said Humayun. When his attention was drawn to the remark of Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukder that the EC was not informed about those arrested during the Narayanganj election, the EC official said, “It is Talukder Sir who can say better about it actually. But the returning officer addressed all the complaints she received.”

Voting in the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) election ended on Sunday without report of any untoward incident. Balloting for the election started at 8am and continued till 4pm without any break. Counting of votes began shortly after the voting ended. Read: NCC polls see good voter turnout, says Returning Officer Voters exercised their franchise in a festive mood using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Long queues were seen as voters turned up at the polling stations to cast their votes braving cold weather and fear of Covid infection. Besides, returning officer Mahfuza Akter said voter turnout in NCC election is good as 40% voters exercised their franchise till noon.  “The number of voters increased after noon. Some 40% people have cast their votes in the election till now,” she told UNB on Sunday. Seven candidates are running for the post of the NCC mayor including ruling party nominee Selina Hayat Ivy, her  principal rival Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker, a veteran BNP who has been contesting as an independent candidate. Selina Hayat Ivy cast her vote at Deubhog Kalrab polling center around 9:30 am while Taimur cast his vote at Masdair Primary Government School around 10 am.

Bangladesh Awami League has again chosen Dr Selina Hayat Ivy as its mayoral candidate to contest the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) election slated for January 16 next. Besides, the ruling party picked Khan Ahmed Shuvo as its MP candidate for Tangail-7 parliamentary by-polls scheduled to be held on the same date (Jan 16). The names of AL aspirants were finalised at a meeting of AL parliamentary and local government nomination boards, held in the afternoon with AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at her official residence Ganobhaban. Since the formation of the Narayanganj City, incumbent mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy won the first two elections in 2011 and 2016. Earlier, she was the mayor of the erstwhile Narayanganj municipality. Read: Narayanganj city polls: Ivy to seek AL nomination The maiden election to NCC was held in a non-partisan manner in 2011. In 2016, Dr Ivy was reelected the NCC mayor as AL candidate as the mayoral election was held using party symbols unlike the councillor election in the city corporation. On November 30 last, the Election Commission announced schedules for NCC election and Tangail-7 by-polls. The parliamentary constituency fell vacant following the death of AL MP Akabbar Hossain on November 16. According to the schedules, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is December 15, while the date for the scrutiny of nomination papers is December 20 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is December 27 in the NCC and Tangail-7 constituency. The third election to Narayanganj City will be held using electronic voting machines (EVM) instead of traditional ballot papers. Read: Mayor Ivy seeks curfew or lockdown in NCC Besides, the meeting finalized the names of AL chairman candidates for the Union Parishads of Parbatipur Upazila in Dinajpur district as well as the Union Parishads in Khulna and Barisal divisions, as the local bodies will go to polls in the 5th phase on January 5 next. A total of 707 Union Parishads will go to polls in this phase in 47 districts. According to the polls schedule announced by the EC, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is December 07, while the date for the scrutiny of nomination papers is December 09 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is December 15.

As monsoon begins, many parts of Narayanganj City Corporation and Sadar upazila were inundated due to intermittent rain, causing huge sufferings to the locals.

It took only three months for Mir Jumla Sarak, adjacent to Digubabu Bazar area, to return to its ‘original’ state – filthy, congested, and hard to navigate.   About three months ago, police freed the road after several rounds of drives. People going to Narayanganj College, Narayanganj High School, T&T office, launch and bus terminals prefer this route.   “But makeshift markets usually keep the road occupied throughout the year,” a local man said, declining to be named.   Continuous eviction drives helped keep the road free and clean to some extent for several months. But now, a large number of makeshift shops have occupied the road and are dumping wastes there.   During a recent visit, the UNB Correspondent found that the road has turned into waste dumping zone, making it very hard for people to move in the area.   Vehicles cannot enter as the road became narrow thanks to illegal occupation.   Some of the shops’ owners were extremely rude to this correspondent and said that running reports on the road’s condition will be in vain.   People said a former district police chief removed all makeshift shops from the road but after he was transferred, the shop owners occupied the place again. They have since been dumping wastes on the road.   Locals blamed the lack of supervision by authorities concerned for the sorry state of the key road and demanded freeing it as soon as possible.   Shyamal, the cleaning inspector of Narayanganj City Corporation, said a number of chicken traders set up shops on the road, preventing waste collection vehicles of the city corporation from entering the area.   “That’s why there are wastes on the road. Necessary measures will be taken to remove the garbage as soon as possible,” he said.