The pace of voting through electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Wednesday's Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) election has been slow, according to city residents waiting in lines to exercise their franchise.
From 8am, when voting started, a significant number of voters have been present at the polling centres. Notably, there has been a higher turnout of women voters compared to men.
Long queues of female voters were observed at the centres, with many expressing their dissatisfaction due to the extended waiting time to cast their votes using EVMs.
Jaigun Begum, a voter at the Preparatory School and College polling centre in ward 28, said: "I arrived at the centre around 8:30 am but have not been able to vote yet. The line is not moving at all."
Election Officer Ratan Kumar Roy said: "We are experiencing a high voter turnout here. However, since it is the first time voting with EVMs, it is taking some time to teach everyone."
The RCC has a total of 351,982 eligible voters, consisting of 171,167 men, 180,809 women and six transgender individuals. There are 155 polling stations with 1,153 polling booths.
The mayoral candidates are the Awami League's HM Khairuzzaman Liton, Jatiya Party's Saiful Islam Swapan; Islami Andolan's Murshid Alam and Zaker Party's Md Latif Anwar.
In addition to the mayoral race, there are 46 candidates competing for 10 reserved women councillor posts and 111 candidates vying for 30 general councillor posts.