From 1608 to 2020, capital Dhaka is now 412 years. In 1608, Mughal Subedar, Islam Khan, started the journey of Dhaka as the capital of Suba Bengal. During the long journey, the administration and services of Dhaka have undergone many changes. Modern Dhaka's city corporation is a municipal corporation, followed by City Corporation.
The size of the city, population and service organizations have increased over time. The organization that started its journey through the municipality in 1864 was split into two city corporations in 2011. In addition to changing the type of city rule, the style of its chief’s designations has changed. Elected from the government or elected nominees have been replaced by the direct vote of the citizens.
Anand Chandra Roy became the first elected chairman of Dhaka Municipality. Although not direct, he was elected by the vote of the commissioners. The first meeting of the elected ward commissioners was in 1884. By profession, Anand Chandra Roy was a lawyer.
Khwaja Amirullah became the first elected vice president of Dhaka. The first elected commissioners were Ramakant Nandi, Dr Coombe, Dr PK Roy, Gopi Mohan Basak, Ishwar Chandra Das and Purnachandra Bhuiyan. On October 31, 1997, Barrister Abul Hasnat began serving as the first elected mayor of Dhaka Municipality.
The municipalities of Mirpur and Gulshan were abolished in 1982 and merged with the Dhaka Municipal Corporation, increasing its area volume and responsibility and transforming it into Dhaka City. As a result, the number of wards stood at 56.
In 1990, it was promoted from Municipal Corporation to Dhaka City Corporation. Barrister Abul Hasnat served as the first mayor (nominated) of the City Corporation.
The first election was held in 1994 under the new law and Mohammad Hanif was elected by direct voter turnout. Sadek Hossain Khoka was elected as the second mayor in the direct vote of undivided Dhaka City voters. He served for more than 9 years, from April 5, 2002 to December 1, 2011.
On November 29, 2011, the government declared the Dhaka City Corporation abolished in accordance with the Local Government Amendment Bill-2011. As a result, on February 1, 2012, Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation started their journey.
First South City Corporation was composed of five regions and 57 wards, and the North City Corporation consisted of five regions and 36 wards. The first election of the divided two city corporations was on April 28, 2015. In the north, Anisul Haq was elected in the north and Mohammad Saeed Khokan in the south. Earlier, there were a total of 15 people serving as administrators of the two cities.
After the demise of Anisul Haque in the north in 2017, another administrator was appointed and Atiqul Islam was elected mayor in the 2019 by-elections. In July of that year, the volume of Dhaka South and North City Corporation reformed. The government formed 36 wards in 16 in two cities on the outskirts of Dhaka. The total number of wards in the two cities stands at 129. Fifty-four in the north and seventy-five in the south.