Khulna City Corporation polls underway

Voting for the 31 wards of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) polls began at 8am on Monday. 

The voting will take place via electronic voting machines (EVMs) at 289 centres till 4pm. 

A total of 2,320 CCTV cameras have been installed both inside and outside 1,732 polling booths.

Dhaka Tribune

As many as 535,522 voters, including 268,828 male and 266,698 female, will cast their votes in the KCC polls.

In the KCC polls, five candidates are vying for the mayoral post. They are AL-backed Talukder Abdul Khaleque (boat), Jatiya Party's Shafiqul Islam Modhu (plough), Bangladesh Islami Andolon's Moulana Abdul Awal (hand Fan), Zaker Party's SM Sabbir Hossain (rose) and independent candidate Shafiqur Rahman Mushfiq (table clock).

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. 

Around 8,300 members of the law enforcement agencies including 4,520 policemen have been deployed in the city. Also, there are 11 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh for the election. Plus, 16 striking forces of the Rapid Action Battalion have been deployed in the KCC polls.