Barishal city polls: Will win if 'people allowed to vote', says Islami Andolan's Faizul Karim

Islami Andolan Bangladesh's mayoral candidate for Barishal city Syed Fazlul Karim cast his vote this morning (Monday, 12 June) and expressed high hopes of winning with a large margin provided that "people are allowed to vote."

Fazlul Karim exercised his franchise at the Shaheed Abdur Rab Serniabat Government High School polling centre located in the Rupatoli Housing area of the city at around 8:15am.

After casting his vote, Fazlul Karim, speaking with the reporters, said that he will secure a landslide victory if the general people are allowed to vote without any obstacles.

When asked about the outcome of the election, Fazlul Karim refrained from making any specific comments. However, he mentioned that he would accept the results regardless of the outcome if the election is fair and credible.

Fazlul Karim informed that there are agents representing his "hand fan" electoral symbol at all polling centres in the city. 

He mentioned that so far, they have not received any reports of irregularities at any place, and everything has been peaceful. There was only a minor incident in a polling centre in Kaunia area, where one of Fazlul Karim's agents was expelled, but the issue was resolved soon after by the Election Commission (EC) official concerned.

There is enthusiasm among voters due to the favorable voting environment, the Islami Andolan leader said adding that voters arrived at the polling centre quite, some even before the gates were officially opened. 

He urged the local administration to provide a favourable environment for fulfilling the expectations of the voters who came to the centres with the hope of exercising their voting rights. 

When asked if there are concerns about the possibility of the results getting rigged, Fazlul Karim stated that there are indeed and asked about the use of EVMs, he said that the system is quite easy for the voters.

"So far, the election environment has been peaceful but I do not know what will happen as the day progresses," he added.

The number of voters in Barishal City is 274,995. Among them, 138,071 are female voters and 136,924 are male voters.

126 polling stations have been set up in the city. There are 116 candidates for the councillor post. There are 42 reserved women councillor candidates.

Seven people are contesting for the post of mayor in the Barishal city elections. They are Abul Khair Abdullah (Bangladesh Awami League), Md Kamrul Ahsan (Independent) Mufti Syed Md Faizul Karim (Islami Andolan Bangladesh), Md Ali Hossain Howlader (Independent), Mizanur Rahman Bachchu (Zaker Party), Md Iqbal Hossain (JatiyaParty) and Md Asaduzzaman (Independent).