Cumilla first time gets female mayor
Cumilla Correspondent
Tahsin Bahar Suchi, organizing secretary of Cumilla city unit of Awami League, emerged victorious in the city corporation by-polls held on Saturday.
Suchi, daughter of MP AKM Bahauddin Bahar, contested in the Cumilla City Corporation (COCC) with her electoral symbol bus and bagged 48,890 votes.
Her nearest candidate, BNP leader Monirul Haque Sakku, who took part in the election with his electoral symbol Table Clock, secured 26, 897 votes.
The voting took place in 105 centres across 27 wards of the city corporation using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
There are 118,282 male voters and 124,278 female voters under the city corporation.
On 13 December, Cumilla City Mayor Arfanul Haque Rifat passed away while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Singapore.
Later, on 22 January, the Election Commission fixed 9 March for the by-polls date.
The first election of this city corporation was held on 5 January 2012 and the second election was on 30 March 2017.
In 2012, Sakku won as mayor as an independent candidate defeating Awami League leader Afzal Khan by 35,000 votes in the first election.
In 2017, he again won against Afzal Khan’s daughter Anjum Sultana Sima by a margin of 11,000 votes.
In the third election held on 15 June 15, Rifat defeated Sakku in a closely contested battle, securing victory by a margin of 343 votes.
