Gazipur: Awami League candidate Jahangir Alam was declared elected in Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) elections on Wednesday defeating his rival BNP contestant Hasan Uddin Sarker by a huge margin of 4.10 lakh votes.

Jahangir bagged 4,00,010 votes while Hasan Uddin polled 1,97,611 in 416 centres out of 425, said Returning officer Rakib Uddin Mandol while announcing the unofficial results at a press briefing at Banga Taj Auditorium around 12 pm, reports the UNB.

The voting in nine polling centres including Khartoil Mansur Ali Adarsha School, West Joydebpur Madinatul Ulum Madrasah, Bhogra Government Primary School and Daffodil Kindergarten-2 was suspended due to violence and capturing of polling stations and giving fake votes, he said.

Earlier, the balloting in the GCC election was held amid BNP’s various allegations of irregularities and vote fraud at many polling stations on Tuesday.

However, the ruling party and its mayoral candidate claimed that the balloting was largely fair and BNP brought the allegations to make the polls controversial.

The voting at the city corporation with a total of 1,137,736 voters -- 569,935 males and 567,801 female—was held from8amto4pmwithout any break on Tuesday.

The turnout of voters was said to be around 50percent, said the Election Commission (EC).

Earlier on Tuesday, the BNP mayoral candidate demanded the EC stop voting immediately. He came up with the demand at a press conference in Gazipur.

‘They (AL men) captured over 100 centres since the morning after driving out my polling agents and established full control over all the polling stations by1pm,’ the BNP mayoral candidate said.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were used in six centres while closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in two.

Seven mayoral candidates—AL’s Jahangir Alam, BNP’s Hasan Uddin Sarker, CPB’s Kazi Mohammad Ruhul Amin, Islami Oikya Jote’s Fazlur Rahman, Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s M Nasir Uddin, Bangladesh Islami Front M Jalal Uddin and independent runner Farid Ahmed—were there in the race.

Besides, some 254 general councillor and 84 reserved-seat female councillor candidates were there in the race. However, a councillor has already been elected unopposed.