The aspiring candidates of third- and fourth-phase upazila parishad polls would not be able to change their voter areas before the upcoming election, the Election Commission officials said yesterday.
The EC turned down applications of the aspiring contestants who prayed for a transfer of their names on voter registration roll to those areas they were intending to contest from.
In the last couple of days, over 100 applications were submitted to the EC for changing voter areas, a senior assistant secretary yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune.
The official also said the aspirants submitted their applications to the commission, National Identity wing and respective election offices across the country.
The Election Commission will not allow the ambitious contestants to change their voter areas and vie for the poll.
The EC in this regard sent letters signed by Senior Assistant Secretary Mahfuza Akter to all district and upazila election officers, asking them not to transfer voters from one area to another till the end of upazila parishad polls.
The commission took the decision considering the possibility of anomalies in voter roll.
Meanwhile, the commission has already announced the schedule of fourth-phase upazila parishad poll of which the first two phases would be held on February 19 and 27.
The EC is likely to announce soon the schedule of last phase upazila poll and complete the election race by March. It will start updating voter list from April next.
The commission will hold the upazila parishad poll using the existing voter list which was used in the recently held 10th parliament poll.
A record number of candidates of all political parties including Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami are competing in the poll.