Panchagarh municipality gets first female mayor
Jakia Khatun, Panchagarh district unit general secretary of Mohila Awami League, has been elected as the first female mayor of the municipality on December 28.
Even AL-backed candidate has secured the mayoral post in the party's ticket for the first time after establishing the municipality in 1985.
Jakia Khatun secured 12,056 votes with boat symbol while her nearest contestant BNP-backed candidate Touhidul Islam and also sitting mayor of the municipality, who was earlier elected five times for the post, bagged 9,475 votes, said District Election Officer and Returning Officer Md Alamgir said.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Ganotantrik Party (Jagpa)-backed candidate Shahrier Alam Biplab got 448 votes with hukka symbol.
From 8:00am to 4:00pm, 21,167 votes had been cast at 15 polling centres of the municipality, said the officer, adding that the total number of voters at the centres are 35,011.
In the election, there were three mayoral candidates and 37 general councillor candidates while 16 were councillor candidates for the reserved seat for women.
While talking to The Daily Star, Zakia said she was involved in student politics of BCL while staying in her paternal house in Dinajpur.
After the marriage she came to Panchagarh with her husband as it was his workplace. She then joined Dr Abeda Hafiz School and College in Panchagarh as an assistant teacher.
Apart from her teaching profession, she started politics with Awami League and became women affair secretary of Panchagarh municipality unit Awami League in 2001, said Jakia.
She was made district unit general secretary of Bangladesh Mohila Awami League in 2007 through the district conference and became the central committee member of Bangladesh Mohila Awami League in 2017.
Jakia Khatun got party nomination for mayoral post from Awami League in 2015 and lost the race.
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