The Election Commission (EC) has said all preparations for the Gazipur City Corporation polls have been made and that it is not worried about any untoward incidents centring on it.
While three-fourths of the polling stations have been identified as “vulnerable,” there is no apprehension about the election, Election Commissioner Md Alamgir, who is in charge of polling in Gazipur, said at Nirbachan Bhaban on Tuesday.
Election campaigns end at midnight on Tuesday and voting through EVMs will take place from 8am-4pm on Thursday.
The election commissioner said various types of people live in industrial areas. Keeping in mind the crime trend there, about two-thirds of the polling stations are being taken into consideration by law enforcement officers.
While talking to the journalists, Md Alamgir said: “Everyone wants to win the election. That's how they campaign and give speeches. But the job of the EC is to make arrangements for fair and peaceful elections. We have completed all the necessary arrangements. EVMs are ready, and they will reach the centres on Wednesday.”
He said that the presiding officer and the security personnel in charge of the polling stations will stay at the centres. Everyone should bring their own food and not share it with one another. The police, RAB, BGB, and Ansar would be deployed as per requirement. There will be executive and judicial judges in supervision.
There are 480 polling stations for more than 1,179,000 voters this time.
Md Alamgir said: “All centres are important to us. Crime tends to be higher in some places in industrial areas. But the most important of these are 351 centres (more than two-thirds). And 129 have been identified as common centres.”
Preparations in case of chaos
Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said that even though there is no apprehension ahead of the polls, many law enforcers have been deployed and any disturbance will be brought under the law.
He said that the electoral situation is good so far. Law enforcement officials said there is no threat. Even if there is no threat, as a preventive measure since it is an industrial area, extra measures have been taken so that miscreants or those with ulterior motives cannot create an untoward situation.
He said that there will be 76 executive magistrates in 57 wards along with judicial magistrates as well. RAB will have 30 teams. BGB will have 13 platoons. Besides, there will be 19 teams of strike force police and 57 teams as mobile teams. Important centres will have 17 members and general centres will have 16 members.
The Election Commission will monitor the election through CCTV cameras in each centre and polling booth. In this case, the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners, senior officials of the EC and journalists will watch the polling situation from the observation centre at Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon.
Eight candidates are fighting for the post of mayor, 79 for the post of reserved councillors and 246 for the post of councillors.
Gono Front's Atiqul Islam with the fish symbol, Awami League candidate Advocate Md Azmat Ulla Khan with the boat symbol, the Jatiya Party's MM Niaz Uddin with the plough symbol, Gazi Ataur Rahman of Islami Andolan Bangladesh with the hand fan and Zaker Party's Md Raju Ahmed with the rose symbol are running for mayor.
Apart from this, Zayeda Khatun is running as an independent candidate for the post of mayor with the symbol table clock, Md Harun-or-Rashid with horse and Sarkar Shahnur Islam with elephant.
