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Published : 19 Feb 2014, 04:07 PM
Polling at 7,000 centres in 97 Upazilas of 40 districts began at 8am on Wednesday. The voting ended at 4pm.
Election Commission (EC) Secretary Md Sirajul Islam told reporters, “The polling was held in a festive environment. Voting ended at 4pm but those who were already in the line will be able to cast their vote.”
He said there was no major untoward incident. But polling was stopped in two centres at Jhenaidah’s Shailkupa and Dariakandi of Nawabganj due to ballot snatching and irregularities.
Counting has begun in these centres. The Election Commission will begin releasing the results after it receives the local counts.
The EC Secretary refused to comment on the scale of turnout, despite his claims about it being festive.
“I can’t say how many cast their votes. I’ll let you know after we’ve the results,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in a press briefing at Naya Paltan, claimed many of its polling agents were forced out of some centres to make sure the election is ‘one-sided’.
Voters had not been able to cast their ballots, said BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
“The ruling party candidates are doing the same thing they did during the voter-less national election. Their secret plan has now been exposed during the first phase of the Upazila election.”
BNP, in a long campaign for polls under a neutral dispensation, had boycotted the controversial Jan 5 polls.
But the EC secretary said, “This is a non-party election. The EC has taken adequate measures including security for holding fair election.”
