Sylhet Bureau

The Election Commission on Friday allocated symbols among the mayoral and councillor candidates for the upcoming Sylhet City Corporation ( SCC) elections scheduled to be held on June 21.

Returning officer Faysal Quader distributed the symbols among 7 mayoral aspirants at around 10:00am in the auditorium of Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited at Mendibag in the city.

Of them, Awami League nominated mayoral candidate Md Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury was allotted ‘Boat’ symbol, while Jatiya Party candidate Nazrul Islam Babul ‘Plough’ symbol, Islami Andolan Bangladesh candidate Hafez Maulana Mahmudul Hasan ‘Hand Fan’, and Zaker Party’s Md Zahirul Alam was allotted ‘Rose’ symbol.

Besides, independent mayoral candidate Mohammad Abdul Hanif Kutu got ‘Horse’ symbol, Md Salah Uddin Rimon ‘Cricket Bat’ and Md Shahjahan Miah got ‘Bus’ symbol.

Later, the returning officer also distributed election symbols among 273 councillor aspirants in 42 general wards and 87 councillor candidates in 14 reserved wards for women in the SCC elections.

The mayoral and councillor candidates started their formal campaigning soon after receiving the election symbols.

They began to introduce themselves and their symbols using loud speakers across the city. In some wards, the candidates brought out processions and held rallies with their workers and supporters. The supporters of mayoral candidates also brought out motorcycle processions at several parts in the city in support of the respective candidates.

AL mayoral candidate Anwaruzzaman told journalists after receiving the symbol that he would run campaign in accordance with the electoral code of conduct.

‘The boat is the symbol of development of the country,’ he said, adding that he was hopeful that about five lakh voters of the Sylhet city would make the ‘Boat’ winner by offering their mandate for the Boat symbol.

Jatiya Party mayoral candidate Babul said that campaigning should be carried out in accordance with the electoral code of conduct. He urged people to vote for ‘Plough’ symbol to develop the Sylhet as a beautiful and planned city.

Islamic Movement candidate Mahmudul Hasan told the journalists that if he is elected, he would implement the development projects that were not done in the past 20 years.

A total of 4,86,605 voters, including 2,32,842 female, are supposed to exercise their right to vote through electronic voting machine on June 21 to elect the Sylhet Nagar Bhaban leadership for next five years.