Election 2008Sylhet district

No woman runner though female voters higher

23 December 2008, 18:00 PM

Iqbal Siddiquee, Sylhet

There is no female candidate in Sylhet district this time, although the number of female voters is a little higher than the male ones in five out of six constituencies. The total number of voters in the district is 17,09,705, which is 2,07,064 more than those of 2001 polls contested by 52 candidates. This time 33 candidates are contesting for six seats although the number of voters has increased considerably. With new delimitation, Sylhet-1 (sadar and city) has the highest 4, 23, 278 voters including 2,23,861 males and 1,99, 417 females. The lowest 2,14,063 voters are in Sylhet-3 (Dakshin Surma, Fenchuganj and part of Balaganj) that include 1,04,254 males and 1,09,809 females. In Sylhet-2 (Biswanath and Balaganj), total number of voters is 2,49,777 including 1,23,012 males and 1,26,765 females. In Sylhet-4 (Zaintapur, Gowainghat and Companiganj), there are 2,83,682 voters including 1,39,498 males and 1,44,184 females. Sylhet-5 (Zakiganj and Kanaighat) has 2,44, 198 votes including 114, 706 males and 129,492 females. There are 294,706 voters in Sylhet6 constituency including 139,489 males and 1,55,217 females. In the last three elections, seven females fought for five seats in the division but none of them was fielded by AL and BNP. In 2001 polls, three female candidates contested but none came out successfully. They were JP's Mumtaj Iqbal in Sunamganj-4, independent runner Azizunnesa in Sylhet-2 and Nazma Akhtar Chowdhury of JP (Manju) in Sylhet-5. In 1996 election, three females fought in three constituencies. They were Shamima Akhtar of JSD (Inu), independent runner Ruhela Hossain Rina, and another independent candidate Nilufar zaman Nila Chowdhury. In 1991 polls, only female candidate in the division was Minara Begum.