2023 Barishal City Corporation election

The 2023 Barishal City Corporation election was an election in Barisal, Bangladesh, held on 12 June 2023 to elect the next mayor & councillors of Barisal.^[1] A total of 276,298 people cast their votes in 894 rooms of 126 polling stations in Barishal City Corporation election.

2023 Barishal City Corporation election

← 2018 12 June 2023 2028 →
Registered	276,298
Turnout	51.46%
Mayoral election
Nominee Abul Khair Abdullah Syed Faizul Karim Party AL IAB Popular vote 87,752 34,345 Percentage 62.99% 24.62%
Mayor before election Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah AL Elected Mayor Abul Khair Abdullah AL
Council election
40 seats in the Barisal City Corporation
Party Leader Seats +/– AL Abul Khair Abdullah 29 +22 BNP Didn't contest 9 +5 Jamaat-e-Islami — 1 +1 JP(E) — 0 −1 Independent — 1 −7 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Background

City corporations, or city councils, are the highest tier among the local councils of Bangladesh—usually composed of cities or metropolitan areas. Elections are held every five years to elect the mayors and ward councilors. Wards are moreover divided administrative parts of a city, and the number of wards in a city depends on the total administrative area. Ward councilors are elected for each ward by their ward residents. For every 3 wards, there is a reserved seat for women in the general council, they are also elected by the people. But the mayoral elections has been way more politically important and prioritized by both voters and political analysts.

The Barishal City Corporation (BCC) is one of the 12 City Corporations in Bangladesh. It comprises the metropolitan Barisal. It is further divided into 30 wards. The body was known as Barisal Municipality previously, until it obtained the city corporation status by a ministry of local government declaration on 25 July 2002.^[2]

Previous election

In the last election, Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah was elected as mayor of the Barisal City Corporation in 2018 city election.^[3] The election was boycotted by the candidates of Communist Party of Bangladesh and Islami Andolon Bangladesh who alleged vote rigging.^[4]

Schedule

The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of Bangladesh on 29 March 2023.^[5]

Event	Date	Day
Date of notification	3 April 2023	Monday
Deadline for submission of nomination paper	16 May 2023	Tuesday
Date for scrutiny of nominations	18 May 2023	Thursday
Appeal against the nomination paper scrutiny	19–21 May 2023
Appeal resolve	22–24 May 2023
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures	25 May 2023	Thursday
Symbols distribution	26 May 2023	Friday
Date of poll & counting	12 June 2023	Monday

Candidates

Mayoral election

A total of 7 candidates were contested for the mayoral post.

Name	Election Symbol		Party	Ref.
Abul Khair Abdullah	Nouka (Boat)		Bangladesh Awami League	^[6]^[7]
Syed Faizul Karim	Hatpakha (Hand fan)		Islami Andolon Bangladesh
Iqbal Hossain Taposh	Langol (Plough)		Jatiya Party (Ershad)
Mizanur Rahman Bachchu	Golap ful (Rose)		Zaker Party
Kamrul Ahsan	Ghori (Clock)		Independent
Asaduzzaman	Hati (Elephant)		Independent
Ali Hossain	Horin (Deer)		Independent

Council election

Total of 116 and 42 were contested for 30 general and 10 reserved (women) seats in the city council, respectively. Symbols have been distributed to 115 out of 116 vying for the posts of councillors of 30 wards. As there is one candidate in ward-7, no symbol has been allotted.^[8]

Incidents

Election boycott

In a press conference on 26 April 2023, BaSad leader Manisha Chakraborty boycotted the upcoming city election.^[9]

Violence

Islami Andolan Bangladesh brought out a march by its followers with sticks and rods, which was widely criticized on social media.^[10]

Islami Andolan candidate Syed Faizul Karim alleged that some 30–40 boat symbol supporters attacked them with sticks near Hatim Ali College after they left Sabera Khatun Girls' Secondary School polling centre.^[11]

In a press briefing at the Nirbachan Bhaban on election day afternoon, Election Commissioner Ahsan Habib Khan assured that orders have already been issued to apprehend those involved in the assault on Faizul.^[12][13]

Results

Mayoral election

Abul Khair Abdullah was elected as mayor of the Barishal City Corporation by defeating Islami Andolan candidate Syed Faizul Karim.^[14][15][16]

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Abul Khair Abdullah	Bangladesh Awami League	87,752	62.99
	Syed Faizul Karim	Islami Andolan Bangladesh	34,345	24.65
	Kamrul Ahsan	Independent	7,999	5.74
	Iqbal Hossain Taposh	Jatiya Party (Ershad)	6,665	4.78
	Mizanur Rahman Bachchu	Zaker Party	2,546	1.83
Total			139,307	100.00
Valid votes			139,307	97.98
Invalid/blank votes			2,870	2.02
Total votes			142,177	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			276,298	51.46
Source: ^[17]

Council election Results

Party-wise

2023 BCC council election results (party-wise)

Party		Seats
		Ward Councilors	Reserved Women Councilors	Total Councilors
	Bangladesh Awami League	21	8	29
	Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami	1	—	1
	Independent	8	2	10
Total		30	10	40

Aftermath

Islami Andolan Bangladesh has rejected the results of Barishal and Khulna City Corporation elections over alleged irregularities and assault on a candidate. They also boycotted the upcoming city elections in Rajshahi and Sylhet.^{[18][19][20][21]}

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir criticizes attack on Islami Andolan candidate Syed Faizul Karim during elections and said it has been proved once again that credible elections are never possible under the current illegal government. Fakhrul strongly denounced the incident and blamed the ruling party cadres for it.^[22]

In a press briefing, Jatiya Party candidate Iqbal Hossain Taposh commented that BNP's decision to boycott election was right and also condemned the attack on the mayoral candidate of the Islami Andolan and demanded speedy justice.^[23]

Inauguration

See also

• 2023 Bangladeshi urban local elections
• 2023 elections in Bangladesh

References

1. "Polls to 5 city corporations: AL nominates mayoral candidates". The daily star. 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
2. "Barisal City Corporation". Banglapedia – National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
3. "New Barisal mayor Sadiq Abdullah sworn in". Dhaka Tribune. 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
4. "BCC polls: Serniabat leads by huge margin". The Daily Star. 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
5. "EC announces polls schedule for five city corporations". Dhaka Tribune. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
6. "Awami League's contender – JaPa or others?". Prothom Alo. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
7. "Barishal city polls: 7 mayoral candidates get symbols". The Daily Star. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
8. "Barisal city polls: Symbols allotted to 7 mayoral candidates". Daily Observer. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
9. "বরিশাল সিটি নির্বাচন বর্জনের ঘোষণা বাসদের". The daily star (in Bengali). 26 April 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
10. "Netizens censure as Islamic Andolan's violent march video during BCC polls goes viral". Dhaka Tribune. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
11. "BCC polls: Islami Andolan candidate Mufti Faizul Karim injured in clash". Dhaka Tribune. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
12. "Arrest those involved in attack on Mufti Syed Faizul Karim: EC". The Business Standard. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
13. "EC: Attack on Islami Andolan candidate an isolated event". Dhaka Tribune. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
14. "BCC polls: Abul Khair Abdullah defeats Faizul". The daily star. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
15. "Abul Khair Abdullah wins Barishal city polls". The Financial Express. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
16. "Awami League candidates Khokon, Khaleque win mayoral polls to Barishal, Khulna". bdnews24.com. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
17. "BCC polls: Awami League's Abul Khair wins by huge margin". Dhaka Tribune. 2023-06-12. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
18. "Islami Andolan rejects polls results". The daily star. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
19. "Islamic Andolan Bangladesh rejects BCC, KCC polls results". Dhaka Tribune. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
20. "Islami Andolan rejects Khulna, Barishal city polls results, pulls out of Sylhet, Rajshahi races". bdnews24.com. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
21. "Islami Andolan rejects Barishal-Khulna results, announces boycotting Sylhet-Rajshahi polls". The Business Standard. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
22. "BNP: Attack on Faizul Karim proves again credible polls never possible under Awami League". Dhaka Tribune. 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
23. "BNP's decision to boycott polls was right: Jatiya Party". The Business Standard. 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.