No ‘mechanism’ in EVM voting: Ivy 

Selina Hayat Ivy, mayor-elect of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) has said no illegal mechanism was used in electronic voting machines (EVM) during the poll. 

She denied the claim of EVM manipulation made by defeated independent candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker on Monday (17 January), reports Prothom Alo. 

"There was no mechanism in EVM. He (Taimur) did not say the right thing. There was no complaint about EVM from him on the election day," she said. 

Ivy noted that the claim made by Taimur is "unreasonable" after being defeated by her by a big margin. 

However, the newly elected mayor of NCC remarked that a deep conspiracy was ongoing against her. 

"Many voters could not cast their votes. For this, the vote may have decreased a bit. I had to fall into various scheming. there was a deep conspiracy (against me)," said Ivy. 

The third-time winner of the NCC poll also said she was always confident about winning. 

"It never felt like I'd lose the election. The votes might've decreased, but I never thought I would lose. I had a positive idea. I have given a positive message to my workers and voters everywhere," she said. 

Selina Hayat Ivy also said the poll has taught her a lot adding, "As simple as it can be accepting everything, it is not so easy in politics." 

When asked about her confidence in winning the election, Ivy said the public was its source. 

"They love me, they are the ones I trust. I never discriminated after assuming power. I worked for everyone equally," said Ivy. 

Ivy further claimed she has always worked for the Awami League. 

"If the party had not nominated me, would I have been able to contest in the election? I couldn't. I stood against the party candidate in 2011. I did not get the party symbol then. I stood to contest with the blessings of our leader (Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina)," she told the reporters. 

The mayor-elect further said she cannot go against her leader and the party. 

Ivy secured a third consecutive victory on Sunday's elections, breaking all the previous records of the country's city corporation polls.

Following the vote, Independent mayoral candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker blamed "manipulation" in EVM for his defeat.

According to the Election Commission data, Ivy bagged 1,59,097 votes while her main rival Taimur Alam Khandaker got 92,166 votes.

No untoward situation or clash was reported in any polling centre during the elections.

The NCC, the seventh-largest city corporation in the country, was formed by merging old Narayanganj and Kadamrasul municipalities in 2011.

Selina Hayat Ivy, then AL rebel candidate, won that election, getting 65% of the total 180,048 votes.

Her rival, Awami League candidate Shameem Osman, got 78,705 votes, 28% of the total votes. BNP withdrew candidature for a strategic reason in the 2011 election, which went in favour of the 'rebel' candidate Ivy.

In the second election held in 2016, Ivy contested as the Awami League candidate and won the election with 174,602 votes. Her main rival lawyer Sakhawat Hossain got 96,700 votes.