The Election Commission has said it suspended balloting in 53 centres owing to violence and irregularities.
Ballot counting began after voting, which commenced at 8am, ended at 4pm on Saturday in the fifth of the six-phase elections for the lowest tier of the local government institutions.
After voting ended, Election Commission Deputy Secretary Farhad Ahmed Khan told reporters that the EC had received information of vote suspension in 30 centres ‘till now’ and said the number might increase.
Later, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said that voting had been cancelled at 53 centres.
Reports of election violence started to pour in once voting commenced in the morning.
A member candidate was hacked to death at Chittagong’s Karnaphuli and a BNP rebel chairman aspirant at Comilla’s Titas.
Police had to open fire to put an end to clashes between supporters of two candidates at Jamalpur’s Dewanganj.
Locals said three people were killed in the incident, though police could confirm the death of only one.
An elderly man died during a clash at Noakhali’s Begumganj. Clashes also took place at different places in Brahmanbarhia.
Earlier in the morning, two election officers died in a road crash in Thakurgaon before the beginning of the voting.
Border Guard Bangladesh personnel held the ruling Awami League’s chairman candidate in Charpatharghata union under Chittagong’s Patiya along with ballot papers outside a centre amid allegations of vote rigging.
At Chittagong’s Boalkhali, BGB arrested a local leader of the Awami League, the brother of a chairman aspirant, for influencing the voting process.
Election officers were found to have been involved in irregularities at different places.
A mobile court jailed an assistant presiding officer at Sirajganj’s Kaliganj on charges of ballot stuffing.
The Election Commission said the fifth-phase polls were better than the previous four phases, a claim the BNP has rejected. The party described the election as a ‘farce’.
After the voting ended, the chief election commissioner held a meeting with other commissioners.
Earlier at noon, Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz said Saturday’s voting had been better than in the previous phases.
He said the Commission acted on every complaint it had received.
After a BNP delegation met the CEC at noon, the party’s senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters, “The polls have been marred by booth capture, fake vote and malpractices. This is a farce in the name of voting.”
He claimed that the Commission was ‘very well aware’ of the situation, but had not taken any corrective measures.
More than 80 people have died in polls violence in the three and a half months since the announcement of the election schedule.