1st phase Upazila Parishad election Wednesday

The first phase of the country’s sixth Upazila Parishad Election is set to be held amid the balloting in 139 upazilas of 59 districts in the country on Wednesday.

The votes will be cast from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm without any recess.

Some 1,630 candidates, including nearly 570 chairman contenders, are in the electoral race in the 139 upazila parishads against a total of 417 posts—chairman posts, vice chairman posts, and women vice chairman posts in each upazila.

More than 2.80 crore people would have voting rights in the upazilas, according to the data of the Election Commission.

A security team of 17-19 members would guard each polling station in the plain districts, while a security team of 19-21 members would protect a polling station in the Chittagong hill tracts and very remote areas. The balloting will be held in some 10,400 polling stations.

On March 21, the Election Commission announced the election schedule for 152 upazila parishads in the first phase.

But all the candidates in five upazilas – Hatia in Noakhali, Munshiganj Sadar, Bagerhat Sadar, Parshuram in Feni and Shibchar in Madaripur– have already been elected uncontested, finding no rival contestant for their respective posts.

Besides, the elections to eight other upazilas were postponed on different grounds. The eight upazilas are Narayanganj Sadar, Kumarkhali in Kushtia, Thanchi and Rowangchhari in Bandarban, Gopalpur in Tangail, Mohadevpur in Naogaon, Nangalkot in Cumilla and Sarishabari in Jamalpur.

This time, the Election Commission is arranging the sixth Upazila Parishad election in four phases.  The commission has already declared the election schedule to hold polls in some 480 upazilas out of the country’s 495 Upazilas. 

The second phase election will be held in some 160 upazilas on May 21, while the third phase in 110 Upazilas on May 29 and 4th phase polls more than 50 upazilas on June 05.