Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Md Ahsan Habib Khan on Monday praised the smooth, orderly and unhindered voting environment prevailing in the Khulna and Barisal City Corporation elections.
“We, along with the Election Commission, are monitoring every centres through CCTV cameras and the festive atmosphere and voters' attendance from the early morning has been beyond expectations,” said Ahsan Habib Khan while giving updates to the reporters at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka's Agargaon area.
“This demonstrates that the commission's arrangements for orderly elections have reassured voters and encouraged them to come to polling stations,” said the EC.
The election commissioner further said that the EC's observer teams, including Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath in Barisal and Joint Secretary Moniruzzaman Talukdar in Khulna, each accompanied by ten officials, are providing field reports confirming that the elections are proceeding very smoothly.
Ahsan Habib Khan also mentioned that no one had reported any kind of non-cooperation.
“Firstly, the voters have come to the centre unhindered. Secondly, the candidates are cooperating, and there have been no unruly situations. Thirdly, the law enforcement agencies and the administration have kept the situation under control. Everyone is conducting the election together. The voters are voting joyfully in a festive atmosphere,” he added.
Hoping that the voter turnout would be higher than in the past, the election commissioner shared: “I saw that 80 votes have been cast in a centre in one and a half hours, and 47 votes have been cast in another centre; this is not slow, it is going fast.
“Voting will continue even after 4pm if there are voters within the premises of the polling station," he added.
Voting for the 31 wards of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) polls and 30 wards of Barisal City Corporation (BCC) polls began at 8am on Monday.
The voting is taking place via electronic voting machines (EVMs) at 289 centres in Khulna and 126 polling stations in Barisal.
