Elections to 13 Upazila Parishads in nine districts of the country will be held today (Monday) in the last and sixth phase.
The upazilas, where the elections will be held, are- Rangpur Sadar, Kaunia, Gangachara, Pirgacha in Rangpur, Kamarkhand in Sirajganj, Gazipur Sadar, Adarsha Sadar and Sadar Dakkhin in Comilla, Basail in Tangail, Taltoli in Barguna, Kalukhali in Rajbari and Bijoynagar in Brahmanbaria. The by-election for the chairman post in Tarakanda upazila in Mymensingh would also be held today (Monday).
Elections to two upazilas– Narayanganj Bandar and Rangabali in Patuakhali were also scheduled to be held today, but the Election Commission (EC) postponed the elections in those two upazilas due to complexities over the boundary demarcation. The EC took the decision following separate orders of the High Court in this regard.
The EC on May 6 postponed the elections of Narayanganj Bandar upazila, while it postponed elections of the Rangabali upazila on April 23.
Earlier, on April 16, the EC announced the scheduled of today’s election. The EC held polls to 459 upazilas out of 487 in five phases across the country. The elections were held from February 19 to March 31 this year.
The EC has completed all necessary preparations to hold the elections in 13 upazilas. The election campaign ended on Saturday midnight. Voting will start at 8:00 am and will continue till 4:00 pm without any break.
A total of 196 candidates, including rebels, from both the Awami League and the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jatiya Party are contesting the elections in 12 upazilas. Of them, 69 chairman candidates, 75 for vice chairman posts and 52 for women vice chairman posts are contesting the today’s polls. Meanwhile, four valid candidates were found for the by-election to the chairman post of Tarakanda upazila.
The EC has taken all-out preparations to hold the elections in a free and fair atmosphere. The returning officers were asked to deploy increased number of law enforcers at the vulnerable polling centres.
The BNP, however, expressed apprehension of vote rigging, attacks at polling centres and capturing the centres to ensure victory of ruling party-backed candidates.
BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed said that as in the past five phases, the government has taken the preparations to snatch the victory of BNP-backed candidates.
Obstruction in campaign, attack on supporters of BNP-backed candidates and threat by the ruling party men were reported from different places, where elections will be held, he alleged at a press conference at the party central office on Sunday.
About EC’s plan to hold fair elections, Rizvi said that violence, vote rigging, snatching of ballot papers had also taken place in the last phases of the elections, despite the EC’s ‘so-called strong warning’ against rigging on booth capture.
