Elections to 24 municipalities have started in different districts of Bangladesh.
In the first phase, the election will be held at municipalities under 23 districts. Voters will elect a mayor, three reserved seat councillors, and nine general councillors for each of the municipalities.
The voting began at 8am and will continue till 4pm on Monday via Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The Election Commission (EC) completed all preparations on Sunday, including for the maintenance of law and order at the election.
On November 22, the EC announced the election schedules for 25 municipalities. However, the election at Sreepur Municipality of Gazipur was rescheduled to January 16 after the death of the BNP mayoral candidate for the municipality.
Voters standing in queue to cast vote for Kushtia municipality election on Monday, December 28, 2020 Dhaka Tribune
The last date for submission of nomination papers was December 1, nomination papers were scrutinized on December 3 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations was December 10.
The 24 municipalities are -- Panchagarh in Panchagarh district, Pirganj in Thakurgaon, Phulbari in Dinajpur, Badarganj in Rangpur, Kurigram in Kurigram district, Putia and Katakhali in Rajshahi, Shahjadpur in Sirajganj, Chatmohor in Pabna, Khoksha in Kushtia, Chuadanga, Chalna in Khulna, Betagi in Barguna, Kuakata in Patuakhali, Uzirpur and Bakerganj in Barisal, Gafargaon in Mymensingh, Madan in Netrakona, Manikganj, Dhamrai in Dhaka, Dirai in Sunamganj, Barolekha in Moulvibazar, Shayesthaganj in Habiganj and Sitakunda in Chittagong.
At least 93 mayoral aspirants, 848 hopefuls for councillor posts and 277 women candidates for reserved seats are contesting in the elections on Monday.
Also read - 2nd phase polls to 61 municipalities January 16
After the first phase, elections to 61 municipalities in different districts will be held in the second phase on January 16, and to 64 municipalities in the 3rd phase on January 30, as per the schedule announced by the Election Commission.
The country has a total of 329 municipalities where 286 are prepared for elections and the rest 43 municipalities have different complexities and cases. The elections to the municipalities are expected to be completed by March or April next year, according to the EC.
After the amendment of the local government act, municipality elections were held in the country in 2015. A total of 20 political parties took part in the election.
