Polls, by-polls at 133 local bodies end, vote counting on

Elections and by-elections of some 133 local government bodies across the country have ended amid allegations of vote rigging, massive irregularities and clashes between rivals. At least one person was killed during violence that erupted at a polling centre in Tangail, hours before the voting started. Voting at 47 union parishads, with by-elections at 72 unions, elections at seven municipalities, by-elections at four municipalities, and an election at an Upazila Parishad for different posts was held from 8am to 4pm on Thursday without any break, said Election Commission Director (public relations) SM Asaduzzaman. Vote counting is currently underway at all polling stations. Voters in the by-elections at two wards in the city corporations of Chittagong and Khulna have cast their votes to elect ward councillors.

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In Faridpur, a total of 200,903 voters exercised their franchises at 102 polling stations to elect their representatives in 11 union parishads. Some 37 candidates are vying for chairman posts while 334 for member posts with a further 116 for reserved women member posts. Of the 102 centres in 11 unions, 62 were identified as risky, said district Election Commissioner Habibur Rahman. He said 20 members of police and ansar were deployed at every centre while 25 members at the risky ones.

A woman holds up her National Identity card while waiting in queue to cast her vote during the election at an union parishad in Sylhet's Fenchuganj on Thursday, March 29, 2018 Dhaka TribuneA platoon of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and two platoons of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were deployed at every union alongside 52 mobile teams of police, five mobile courts, 21 executive magistrates, and three judicial magistrates. In Sylhet, 72,592 voters have also cast their votes at 45 polling centres to elect chairmen, members, and reserved female members at five union parishads in Fenchuganj upazila. Some 21 candidates are vying for chairmen posts while 228 for member posts and 50 for reserved women member posts.