4th phase of Upazila polls comes to a close, counting begins

Election officials say they are hoping for a turnout of at least 35 percent in the 60 Upazilas

The fourth phase of the sixth Upazila Parishad election has come to a close without any major incidents.

Voting opened at 7,500 polling centres in 60 Upazilas at 8am on Wednesday and continued until 4pm without a break.

Six Upazilas voted by EVMs in this phase, while the rest used traditional paper ballots.

Like the previous three phases of the local government polls, the turnout was relatively low.

After polls closed, counting began.

Election Commission Secretary Shafiul Azim spoke to the media in the afternoon and expressed satisfaction at largely peaceful polls.

He said that the average turnout in the first four hours of the polls was approximately 17.31 percent and expressed his hope that the turnout would reach at least 35 percent by the time polls closed.

The EC monitoring cell did not note any major instances of irregularities or disturbances, but four persons were detained and three were fined for attempting to tamper with the polls.

Of the 495 Upazilas in the country, 450 are going to the polls in the sixth Upazila Parishad elections. The remaining Upazilas will hold elections once the terms of their Upazila councils end.

The first phase was held on May 8 with voting in 139 Upazilas. The turnout was 36 percent. The second phase was held on May 21 in 156 Upazilas and the turnout was 38 percent.

The third phase saw another 90 Upazilas go to the polls on May 29 and the turnout was again 36 percent.

A total of 721 candidates are running in the Upazila races in the fourth phase on Wednesday. Among them, 251 people are contesting for the post of chairman, 265 people for the post of vice chairman and 205 people for the post of woman vice chairman.

To allow for a ‘competitive’ election, the ruling party Awami League did not nominate any candidates or allow their party symbol to be used by any of those running in the Upazila polls. Hence, Awami League leaders vying for the Upazila posts are running as independent candidates.

The BNP has been adamant about boycotting the Upazila polls, as it did the national election. However, their members are contesting the election as independent candidates in different Upazilas. Many of them have since been expelled for going against the party’s decision.

Local Awami League leaders bagged the majority of posts in the last three phases. Some expelled BNP members and members of other parties won around 18 posts.

FOURTH PHASE OF VOTING AT A GLANCE

Constituencies: 60 Upazilas

Centres: 5,144

Voting booths: More than 40,000

Voters: More than 14.3 million