Polls were held in 139 Upazilas on Wednesday
Published : 09 May 2024, 03:24 PM
The average voter turnout for the first phase of the sixth Upazila Parishad elections was 36.1 percent.
The turnout was an average of 31.31 percent for the 22 Upazilas using electronic voting machines, while the turnout averaged 37.22 percent in those constituencies using paper ballots, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir told the media at the election regulator’s office in Dhaka on Thursday.
Polls were held in 139 Upazilas in the first phase of the elections on Wednesday.
The average turnout was calculated from the percentage of votes cast for the post of chairman, he said.
The lowest turnout was seen in the Sonatala, Mirsarai, and Kushtia Sadar polls, which only registered 17 percent. The highest turnout was Joypurhat’s Khetlal Upazila with 73 percent.
The sixth Upazila Parishad election will be held in four phases.
The 12th national election on Jan 7, saw a 42 percent voter turnout.
In 2009, the third Upazila Parishad election saw a 67.69 percent turnout while the figure dropped to 61 percent in the fourth Upazila election in 2014. In 2019, the rate was around 41 percent in the fifth Upazila election.
Since the Upazila Parishad council was introduced in 1985, there were one-day votes in 1990 and 2009. But in 2014, the local government elections were held in six phases and the 2019 election in five phases.
The Upazila election is typically held within four months of the 12th parliamentary election. The Election Commission took ‘all necessary preparations’ to have a free and fair election this time, said Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal. They were trying their best to ‘prevent any influence on the voting,’ he said.
To allow for a ‘competitive’ election, the ruling party Awami League did not nominate any candidate or allow their party symbol to be used by any of those running. Hence, Awami League leaders vying for the Upazila posts are running as independent candidates.
After the last general election, the Election Commission’s biggest challenges for the polls are to ensure good voter turnout while keeping the election free of any influence, believe election observers.