Upazila parishad polling ends peacefully, vote counting begins

The first phase of the country’s sixth upazila parishad elections ended peacefully at 4pm on Wednesday amid sporadic reports of violence and the vote counting has already commenced.

Voters began exercising their franchise at 8am on Wednesday in 139 upazilas across 59 districts.

One or two places reported clashes with no major incidents reported.

Voter turnout was low in the morning. However, it increased slightly as the afternoon progressed.

In the first phase, with eight chairman posts, 10 vice-chairman posts and 10 women vice-chairperson posts, 28 people have already won unopposed.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Tuesday sought the cooperation of everyone concerned to ensure that the upazila parishad polls were free, fair and neutral.

As of Tuesday afternoon, some 1,630 candidates, including nearly 570 chairmen post contenders, were in the electoral race in the 139 upazilas, fighting for a total of 417 posts.

The local government election is being held in four phases. In the first phase, polling was conducted in 139 upazila parishads of Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal, Faridpur, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Comilla and Chittagong regions.

Polling will be held in 160 upazilas in the second phase on May 21, in 110 upazilas in the third phase on May 29 and in more than 50 upazilas in the fourth phase on June 5.

Prior to the start of the elections, the Election Commission had estimated more than 28 million voters across the 139 upazilas.