People are my power: Ivy
It has been proved that Narayanganj is a strong base of Awami League, she says.
Moments after winning one of the closest mayoral elections of the country, the first female mayor to have led Narayanganj for three consecutive terms, incumbent Mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) Selina Hayat Ivy credited her win in the polls to the public of Narayanganj.
"People are my power. At the heart of all my achievements is the public support here. I could not have even stood in Narayanganj without that," she told the media Sunday (16 January) at her residence in Deobhog of Narayanganj after claiming to have won the NCC poll for the third time.
"I am grateful to the people of Narayanganj for this victory," added Ivy.
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When asked about the reason behind her success, the Awami League candidate said her connection with the public worked for the win.
"I did not lie to people, I did not give false assurances. I have loved people selflessly. They have given it back," she said.
Expressing satisfaction at the outcome of the election, Ivy said it has been proved that Narayanganj is a strong base of the Awami League.
She further expressed willingness to work for the betterment of the people of Narayanganj.
"Above all, I will serve the people of Narayanganj, I will serve the people," she said.
Selina Hayat Ivy said the NCC election was free and fair. "Everyone has seen that," added the winning candidate.
However, she also mentioned that the casting of votes at the booths could have been faster.
The Election Commission published data of all 192 centres by 11pm Sunday. Ivy bagged 1,59,097 votes while her main rival and an independent candidate Taimur Alam Khandaker got 92,166 votes.
The voting started at 8am Sunday (16 January) in 192 polling centres in 27 wards of the city and continued till 4pm without any break.
No untoward situation or clash was reported in any polling centre.
Earlier in the day, Election Commissioner Mahbub Talukdar termed NCC poll as one of the best elections held under the commission expressing satisfaction.
According to EC Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandaker, it is estimated that 50% of the votes were cast in the election.
However, many voters faced difficulties while using the electronic voting machines in a few polling centres.
Besides, people were seen violating health guidelines in the polling centres posing risk of rising in Covid-19 infections.
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.
