Voting underway in Dhaka city

Voting in the elections to Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) began on Saturday morning.

The voting began at 8:00 am and will continue till 4:00 pm without any break.

The Election Commission (EC) has taken all-out preparations to hold the polls in the two city corporations in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda urged the voters to go to polling centers without any fear to exercise their franchise.

Around 50,000 members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed in the two city corporations to ensure the security.

Members of police and ansar have been deployed to ensure security at polling centers while BGB, RAB and river police will ensure security in the election areas.

As per the directives of the EC, respective forces have deployed their members at specific places.

A total of 129 executive magistrates and 64 judicial magistrates have also been deployed in the two city corporations. Fifty four executive magistrates are staying in the election field in Dhaka north and 75 more in Dhaka south from today to February 2.

A total of 1013 local observers of 22 institutions are monitoring the polls while 74 persons are working as foreign observers.

A total of 13 mayoral candidates are vying in the Dhaka north and south city corporations while around 7500 candidates are contesting for councilor posts in the two city corporations.

In Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), there are 30 lakh 10 thousand 273 voters. Of the voters, 15,49,567 are male and 14,60,706 are female. DNCC has 1,318 polling centers while there are 54 general and 18 reserved (women) wards in the city corporation.

In DSCC, there are 1,150 polling centers for 24 lakh 53 thousand 194 voters. Of them, 12 lakh 93 thousand 441 are male and 11 lakh 59 thousand 753 are female. DSCC has 1,150 polling centers while it has 75 general and 25 reserved wards.

Dhaka/Hasibul/Mukul