Voting is ongoing in Tangail municipality and two union parishads as well as Comilla's Lalmai upazila parishad since Thursday morning.
Elections in Tangail's Elenga and two union parishads started under tight security through EVMs from 8:30am on Thursday and will continue till 4:30pm.
In Elenga municipal election, three candidates are contesting for the post of mayor, 34 candidates for councillor and 14 candidates for the post of reserved councillor and 12 candidates for the post of chairman in two UPs.
Out of 34 centres in the election, 29 centres have been identified as vulnerable.
Sufficient number of law enforcement agencies including four platoons of BGB are performing duty in the elections along with three judicial magistrates and 15 executive magistrates.
In Elenga municipal election, the total number of voters is 35,554. Of them, there are 17,756 male voters, 17,797 female voters and one third gender voter. There are 15 centres in this municipality. There are 104 polling booths. One judicial and nine executive magistrates are serving in the election.
The contending candidates for the mayoral post are Awami League candidate Nur-e Alam Siddiqui (Boat), independent candidate Shafi Khan (Jug) and Elenga municipal Awami League Vice-President Regina Akhtar (coconut tree).
Five candidates are contesting for the post of chairman in Sagardighi union in Ghatail upazila. Apart from this, 39 candidates are contesting for general membership and 13 candidates for reserved posts. The total number of voters in the election is 19,668. Among them 9,784 male voters and 9,884 female voters. There are nine centres and 51 polling booths in the election. One judicial and three executive magistrates are serving in the election.
Seven candidates are contesting for the post of chairman in Bhara by-election in Nagarpur upazila. The total voters in the election are 23,983 people. Among them, 12,276 are male voters and 11,707 female voters. There are 10 centres and 68 polling booths in the election. One judicial and three executive magistrates are serving in the election.
In this regard, Tangail district election officer AHM Kamrul Hasan said that eight-nine policemen are deployed in vulnerable centres and six-seven policemen in general centres. Besides, nine members of Ansar are serving in each centre.
On the other hand, voting through EVM system started from 8:30am on Thursday for Lalmai upazila parishad election of Comilla.
Two-three voters were seen at Faizganj Islamia Alim madrasa centre.
There are two rebels in the field against the Awami League candidate for the post of chairman in the election. The candidate for the boat symbol nominated by Awami League is South District Awami Jubo League Convener Kamrul Hasan Shaheen. Rebel candidates are (Pineapple symbol) South District Awami League Joint General Secretary Principal Abdul Momin Majumder and Upazila Awami League member (Cup- Saucer) Md Harun-ur-Rashid Majumder.
According to local sources, even though there are three candidates, the fight will be mainly between the boat and the pineapple symbol candidates. A total of 12 candidates are contesting in the upazila. Among them, there are three candidates for the post of chairman, five candidates for the post of male vice chairman and four candidates for the post of female vice chairman.
Meanwhile, in the morning, Kazi Khairul Islam, the presiding officer of Comilla's Fayezganj Islamia Alim Madrasa Male Centre, said: “The voters of my centre are 2,872. We have started taking votes. Voter turnout is still low. Hopefully, we can complete the polling properly.”
Comilla District Superintendent of Police Abdul Mannan said: “Our senior officers are working to keep the situation normal. I have instructed all the teams including the striking team, patrol team to keep the situation good.”
Manjrul Islam, the senior officer of the returning officer district, said that an executive magistrate is performing the duty in the upazila to see whether the candidates are complying with the code of conduct.
Our Tangail correspondent Abdullah Al Numan and Comilla correspondent Md Mahasin Kabir contributed to the report
