The second phase of the upazila election will be held today (Thursday) in 116 upazilas. Voting at the Maheshkhali upazila, however, will be held in March instead of today. In the first phase, UZ polls were held on February 19 and 24 in 98 upazilas. The voting will begin from 8:00am and continue till 4:00pm without any break. The day has been declared a public holiday in the polling areas. The election campaign ended on Tuesday midnight. The Election Commission (EC) has taken all the preparations in this connection and appointed 8,136 presiding officers. As measure of maintaining law and order in the polling upazilas, Army has been patrolling there from Tuesday, but there will be no army unit inside the polling centres. Besides, police, RAB and members of other law enforcing agencies have also been deployed. The EC appointed 464 executives and 116 judicial magistrates in the election areas, said the EC officials. Meanwhile, the administration has identified the vulnerable polling centres and taking preparations accordingly. The administration of Bogra has identified all the polling centers in Shahajahanpur, Kahaloo, Shibganj and Adamdighi upazilas as vulnerable. At least 98 polling centres out of the 278 have been identified as high risk. In Chandpur, a total of 245 voting centres in five upazilas of the district have been marked vulnerable. The upazilas are Chandpur Sadar, Haimchar, Matlab North, Matlab South and Faridganj. The numbers of the risky stations are 54 at Matlab South, 52 at Matlab North, 59 at Chandpur Sadar, 58 at Faridganj and 22 at Haimchar. Chandpur SB official Mizanur Rahman said special security measures have been taken at the risky voting centres. According to the EC Secretariat, a total of 1376 candidates are contesting in the second phase of the elections. Of them, 515 are for chairman posts while 521 for vice-chairman and 340 for female vice-chairman. 221 chairman candidates, 138 vice-chairman aspirants and 49 woman vice-chairman candidates withdrew their candidature after filing nomination papers, according to Election Commission sources.The EC has declared candidates unopposed as vice-chairman in three upazilas. These are Saltha Upazila of Faridpur, Matlab (north) Upazila of Chandpur and Parshuram Upazila of Feni.Both the Awami League and the BNP have taken the election seriously. In spite of hectic efforts, they have failed to convince most of their rebel candidates to withdraw their candidatures in the second phase as in the first phase. The AL has at least 57 rebels for chairman posts while the BNP has 51. Dissidents are also vying for the vice-chairman posts in several upazilas.In the first phase, the rebel candidates contested in more than 50 upazilas out of the 98. In the polls, AL-backed candidates won 34 chairman posts while BNP-backed candidates swept 43.The BNP-led alliance is hopeful of victory in majority areas while the AL is also trying to bag the majority. The BNP has already apprehended vote rigging in the second phase. “The BNP-led 19-party alliance backed candidates, leaders and workers are being subjected to threat, arrest and physical assault. Many of them are being indicted in false cases,” said BNP Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office on Wednesday. He alleged that after filing the false cases, the law enforcers were conducting raids to arrest them and their family members too. This is nothing but the government’s move to influence the second phase of the election, he claims. On January 23, the EC announced the schedule for the second phase of the elections. Polls in 83 upazilas will be held on March 15 in the third phase while in 92 upazilas on March 23 in the fourth phase and in 74 upazilas on March 31 in the fifth phase. The polls in the rest of the upazilas out of the 487 upazila parishads will be held in the sixth phase by June.
