The Election Commission has taken all-out measures, including adequate security arrangements for Monday's much-hyped elections to the Barisal and Khulna city corporations -- boycotted by the BNP and like-minded parties.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, at a meeting with officials and candidates in Sylhet on Saturday warned of tougher actions against the use of muscle power and irregularities. He earlier visited Barisal, Khulna and Rajshahi to oversee preparations.
The EC intends to hold free and fair voting as it did in the Gazipur city election on May 25 which saw a 48.75% turnout and no violence.
The CEC also called on the police and civil administration to take immediate action if such incidents are reported.
Campaigning for the Barisal City Corporation (BCC) and Khulna City Corporation (KCC) election ended at midnight after days of intense mass contact by the candidates and their supporters.
Voting will be conducted through Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). Moreover, CCTV cameras have been installed at the centres. Election officials will monitor the polls from the EC headquarters in Dhaka's Agargaon.
The polls are taking place even as the BNP has already boycotted the election and expelled 19 leaders, including Rupam, in Barisal and nine in Khulna for joining the polls race. The party is also asking its supporters not to campaign for the expelled candidates and voters to boycott the polls.
The BNP has also expelled 43 leaders in Sylhet and 16 in Rajshahi. Earlier, a dozen BNP leaders in Gazipur city election won the councillors' positions despite being expelled.
The mayoral candidates in the BCC election race are Awami League-nominated Abul Khair Abdullah Khokon Serniabat (boat symbol), Jatiya Party's (JaPa) Engineer Iqbal Hossain Tapas (plough), Islamic Andolan Bangladesh's (IAB) Mufti Syed Faizul Karim (hand fan), Zaker Party's Mizanur Rahman Bachchu (rose), and independent candidates Ali Hossain Howladar (deer), former Chhatra Dal leader Kamrul Ahsan Rupam (table clock) and Asaduzzaman (elephant).
There are 116 councillor hopefuls at 30 wards in the city and 42 women candidates for the 10 reserved councillor posts.
The number of voters is 276,298 in the city.
As many as 1,146 CCTV cameras have been set up at the centres.
The police have banned the plying of trucks, buses, minibuses, microbuses, jeeps, pickup vans, private cars and easy-bikes within the city for 24 hours from midnight today.
The operation of all kinds of vessels on the Barisal river routes has also been suspended over the period.
Motorbikes are banned for a 24-hour span beginning at 12 midnight Sunday.
Carrying and brandishing licensed firearms are also prohibited from Saturday till Wednesday.
Voting will take place in 126 polling centres, among which 106 are “risky”, according to the police.
“But we're determined to help conduct the election peacefully,” Saiful Islam, commissioner of Barisal Metropolitan Police.
The Rapid Action Battalion, too, echoed the same sentiment.
Jahangir Hossain, deputy commissioner of the district, said 10 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh personnel and 40 executive magistrates have been engaged for the election.
In Khulna too, security has been tightened ahead of the voting.
Eleven platoons of BGB have been deployed alongside other law-enforcing agencies.
The five candidates vying for the mayoral office are the Awami League-backed 14-party alliance's Talukder Abdul Khaleque (boat), JaPa's Shafiqul Islam Modhu (plough), IAB's Moulana Abdul Awal (hand fan) and Zaker Party's SM Sabbir Hossain (rose).
Some 134 candidates are in the race for councillors' posts in 29 general wards and 39 for (women's) reserved seats.
Two councillors for wards 13 and 24 have already been elected unopposed.
A total of 535,528 people are expected to exercise their franchise in the 31 wards of the KCC. There will be 1,732 polling booths under 289 polling stations.
Our Barisal, Khulna and Sylhet correspondents Anisur Rahman Swapan, Md Hedait Hossain Molla and Mohammed Serajul Islam contributed to the report