Dhaka – Voting began in Bangladesh’s municipal elections Wednesday amid allegations of stray incidents of violence and staffing in some polling stations, officials said.
Hundreds of voters were seen on the queue from the early winter morning as the election officials opened the polling stations at 8 am in 234 municipalities to facilitate the people to cast their ballots to choose their representatives in the local government institutions.
The casting of ballot will continue non-stop until 4 pm. The election commission announced holiday in the electoral constituencies for Wednesday to make way for more than 7 million voters to cast ballots.
The election commission announced the election for December 30 voting as the tenure of the elected representatives expired this month.
For the first time in Bangladesh, the local elections is being contested based on party-line as the government amended the electoral laws to let political parties nominate their candidates.
The fray is likely to remain confine between ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
The election commission deployed more than 100,000 members of law enforcement agencies to maintain order during and after the polls.
Seven mayoral candidates, all from ruling Awami League, was elected unopposed since they faced no contenders in the elections. They are Md. Habibur Rahman Malek in Pirojpure, Mirza Golam Kibria Kabir in Madarganj of Jamalpur, Sheikh Ahmed Hossain Mirza in Tungipara of Goplaganj district, Hazi Alauddin in Feni Sadar, Nizamuddin Ahmed Chowdhury in Parshuram of Feni, Mohammad Ullah Patwary in Chatkhil of Noakhali and Rafiqul Alam of Chengarchar of Chandpur district.
Nine hundred and forty-five candidates are contesting for mayoral positions while 12,000 candidates are in the race for councillor positions.
A total of 20 political parties have joined the elections. Islami Andolon, National People’s Party, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Liberal Democratic Party, National Awami Party, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal, Tariqat Federation, Islami Oikya Jote, Khelafat Majlish and Biplobi Workers Party are among others.
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