50 pc votes cast in 5 hours

Gazipur witnessed brisk voting with almost all the polling centres reporting an average 50 percent turnout in the first-five hours of the city Corporation elections, says Returning Officer Matiur Rahman.

“Nothing occurred that demands action,” he told bdnews24.com.

He claimed the voting was underway in a peaceful manner and added no untoward incident was reported until 1pm on Saturday.

He said voting began at 8:00am and will continue until 4:00pm.

A total of 1,026,938 voters are eligible to vote in the polls that ill decide the fate of seven candidates eyeing to be Mayor. Ruling Awami League and opposition BNP is backing one candidate each.

For the 57 General Councillor positions there are 456 contenders while 128 are in the race for the 19 reserved seats for women.

Earlier at 12pm, Election Commission Secretary Mohammad Sadiq said almost 35 percent of the voters have exercised their franchise.

During a media briefing at the Commission's conference room in Dhaka he said polling was so far peaceful.

Gazipur at a glance