Voting underway in Sylhet, Rajshahi polls

Voting in Sylhet and Rajshahi city corporation elections began through electronic voting machines (EVMs) on Wednesday morning. 

The voting started at 8am and will continue until 4pm without any break.

The Election Commission has taken all steps to hold free, fair and impartial elections in the two cities. 

Election proceedings are being monitored centrally through CCTV cameras. Meanwhile, members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed to keep the polling environment peaceful. There are also executive and judicial magistrates in the field.

SCC polls

Voters started exercising their franchise through EVMs at 190 centres in Sylhet. 

The election is being held for the fifth time in this city in 42 wards with an area of 79.50 square kilometres.

Some 132 of the polling centres have been categorized as risky. 

The mayoral candidates are the Awami League's Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, Jatiya Party's Nazrul Islam Babul, Zaker Party's Zahirul Alam, and independent candidates Abdul Hanif Kutu, Salah Uddin Rimon, Shah Jahan Mia and Mostak Ahmed Rouf Mostafa.

The Islami Andolan's Hafiz Maulana Mahmudul Hasan has boycotted the election.

Among the mayoral candidates of Sylhet, Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury and Nazrul Islam Babul may be in fierce competition, voters said.

Dhaka Tribune

As many as 273 general councillor candidates are in the polls fray in the city's 42 wards, where 42 women are vying for reserved councillor positions. 

This time the total number of voters is 487,753. Among them, 254,360 are men and 233,387 are women.

RCC polls 

For the first time in RCC history, the election is being held through EVMs at all 155 centres. There will also be CCTV Cameras at each centre.

There are 351,982 voters to exercise their right of franchise in 1,153 rooms of the 155 polling centres in 30 wards.

A total of 161 candidates are in the election race. Of them, three for mayor, 112 for general councillors in 30 wards and 46 for 10 reserved seats for women councillors.

The mayoral candidates are the Awami League-nominated candidate, former mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton (boat), Jatiya Party's Saiful Islam Swapan (plough) and Jaker Party's Latif Anwar (rose).

Around 3,500 members of the police, 400 from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), 200 from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and 1,860 Ansar members will discharge election duties.