The Election Commission on Wednesday completed its last-minute preparations to hold polls in Gazipur City Corporation (GCC), the largest city corporation in the country by area, by distributing 46 items of voting materials, including EVM machines, to the responsible officials at 480 polling stations.
The voting will take place from 8am-4pm on Thursday.
In this election, 333 councillor candidates (general and reserved), along with eight mayoral candidates, are directly entering the ballot battle.
All necessary preparations have been completed by the Election Commission and other related entities to ensure a fair, pleasant and successful election, confirmed Assistant Returning Officer for the Gazipur City Corporation Election HM Kamrul Islam.
Dhaka Tribune“Over 3,497 booths at 480 centres have been established to cater to more than 1.17 million voters,” Kamrul Islam stated, adding that a total of 5,246 EVM machines have been prepared for use at these centres.
Each centre will be equipped with 480 troubleshooters, a total of 240 mobile technical experts (one for every two centres), 14 assistant programmers and four programmers to swiftly solve any EVM machine issues, said HM Kamrul Islam.
CCTV cameras have been installed in every booth and centre, he added.
Furthermore, the assistant returning officer informed that the distribution of materials, including EVM machines, hand sanitizers, vaseline, velvet cloths, tissues, booth construction fabrics, indelible ink, voter lists, screwdrivers and multiplugs, among the 46 items, began from Gazipur District Administration Office, Kazi Azim Uddin College and National University from Wednesday afternoon.
Presiding and assistant presiding officers are collecting these materials for each centre, he added.
Candidates for this year's Gazipur City Corporation Election
Candidates for the mayoral position include Advocate Azmat Ullah Khan from the Awami League (Boat symbol), former secretary MM Niazuddin from the Jatiya Party (Plough symbol), Gazi Ataur Rahman from the Islami Andolon Bangladesh (Hand fan symbol), Raju Ahmed from the Zaker Party (Rose symbol), and Atiqul Islam from the Gana Front (Fish symbol).
Independent candidates for the mayoral post include Zayeda Khatun (Table clock symbol), Harun-or-Rashid (Horse symbol), and Sarkar Shah Nur Islam (Elephant symbol).
Dhaka TribuneElection Commissioner's commitment
Election Commissioner Md Alamgir stated: "Every centre is important to us in the Gazipur City Election. Some industrial areas tend to have higher crime rates. Among them, 351 centres (more than two-thirds) are very important and 129 have been identified as regular centres."
Md Alamgir said that there will be 76 executive magistrates for the 57 wards, along with judicial magistrates.
Stating that there will be 30 RAB teams, 13 BGB platoons and 20 additional BGB personnel, Md Alamgir further stated that there will be 19 striking forces of the police and 57 mobile teams.
Each of the crucial centres will be secured by 17 security force members, and each general centre will have 16 members, he said.
Thus, an abundant number of law enforcement officials will be appointed to prevent any sort of chaos, the election commissioner assured.