Did anyone expect that the ruling party candidate would lose her security deposit or manage to bag only eight percent of the votes?

Intra-party feud and selection of “wrong candidate” caused the ruling Awami League to suffer a humiliating defeat in Tuesday’s mayoral polls in Rangpur city, said local politicians and civil society members.

Jatiya Party mayoral candidate Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa is leading by a wide margin in Rangpur City Corporation polls held peacefully amid tight security yesterday. According to the unofficial results from all the 193 polling centres, Mostafa got 1,60,489 votes. His nearest rival from the ruling Awami League Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu bagged 62,400 votes while BNP candidate Kawsar Zaman Babla secured 35,136 votes.