Awami League mayoral candidate Abul Khair Abdullah, alias Kokhon Serniabat, defeated his nearest rival Mufti Syed Faizul Karim of Islami Andolan Bangladesh by 53,980 votes, according to unofficial results of all the 126 centres in Barishal city polls.

Humayun Kabir, returning officer of the Barishal City Corporation elections, unofficially announced the polls results at the district's Shilpakala Academy at around 9:30pm.

Photo: Titu Das

Khair, running the race with AL's symbol "boat", got 87,808 votes and his closest rival, Bangladesh Islami Andolon nominee Faizul Karim with "hand fan" symbol, got 33,828 votes, said Humayun.

2,76,298 voters were eligible to cast their votes in the city, and the turnout was 51.46 percent, he said while reading out the results from the 126 polling centres.

Seven mayoral candidates, 118 general councillor candidates, and 42 reserved councillor candidates participated in the elections.