EC prepares for election in Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations

The Election Commission has ordered preparation of panels of around 75,000 poling officers ahead of the polls in Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations.

According to the commission, around 55,000 presiding, assistant presiding, polling and assistant polling officers will be deployed in two Dhaka City Corporations and over 15,000 in the Chittagong City Corporation.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad had earlier said they had plans to conduct voting in the three city corporations before the month of Ramadan, which starts in mid-June.

Regional election officers told bdnews24.com that there would be over 2,000 poling centres for 4.3 million voters in two city corporations in Dhaka.

A panel of around 60,000 officers will be kept ready for the Dhaka polls.

There will be over 1,000 polling centres for 1.8 million voters in Chittagong, where a panel of more than 20,000 officers will be prepared.

EC Deputy Secretary Shamsul Alam has sent instructions to Dhaka and Chittagong regional election officers to this effect.

Alam said instructions had also been issued to update electoral rolls and a list of probable polling centres.

When asked, the Dhaka Regional Election Officer Mihir Sarwar said on Wednesday: “Today we received the instruction regarding the preparation of the panels of presiding, assistant presiding, poling and assistant polling officers.”

“Tomorrow we will send letters to all ministries, divisions and agencies asking for their manpower requirement,” he added.

District and Upazila election officers will be given the instructions on Thursday.

There are around 2.4 million voters in Dhaka North and 1.89 million in Dhaka South City Corporations.