3rd phase upazila parishads polls begins

Staff Correspondent: Voting has begun at 117 upazila parishads in 24 districts in the third phase of the local body polls.

The balloting that began at 8:00am will continue till 4:00pm on Sunday without any break.

Over 1.5 lakh law enforcers have been deployed to provide sufficient security measures in the polls. Besides, three platoon BGB forcers were also deployed in 24 upazilas.

Election Commission (EC) Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said, “We are in strict position. Additional forces of BGB and RAB were deployed in risky upazilas. Some OC and three Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO) were withdrawn.”

A total of 11,887,751 voters will be able to exercise their voting rights at 9,298 polling stations in these elections.

In the 117 upazilas, some 340 chairmen, 584 vice-chairmen and 399 woman vice-chairmen candidates are contesting in the elections.

According to the EC decision, the fourth and fifth phases of the polls will be held on March 31 and July 18, respectively.


risingbd/Dhaka/March 24, 2019/Hasibul/Nasim