3rd phase upazila polls progressing
Voting in 81 upazila parishads of 41 districts in the country began today in the third phase of the local government elections.
The voting began at 8:00am and will continue till 4:00pm without any break.
A total of 1,119 candidates are contesting the elections against 243 posts in the 81 upazilas.
Of them, 419 are chairman candidates, 423 vice chairman contenders and 277 vice chairman candidates for the post set aside for women.
There are 1,31,85,013 voters - 65,48,772 males and 66,17,182 females - who can exercise their franchise in 35,331 booths of 5,444 polling stations in the upazilas, reports UNB.
The upazila polls which is being held one and a half months after the January 5 national elections that the BNP-led alliance boycotted, have become a prestige issue for both the AL and the BNP.
The outcome of the polls will indicate the gain or loss of their popularity.
In the first two phases on February 19 and 27, elections were held in 213 upazilas.
The BNP-supported contenders secured 93 of the 213 chairmen posts and the AL favourites bagged 81.
To win more upazilas this time, the two archrivals have made frantic efforts to persuade their rebels into quitting the race. But rebels in many areas have refused to stand aside.
Both the parties have more rebels in today's polls than those in the first two phases.
AL has at least 79 rebel candidates for the chairman posts in 47 upazilas while the BNP has 60 in 36 upazilas.
This means the AL has been able to pick single candidates for chairman posts in 34 upazilas and the BNP in 42.
The BNP did not field chairman candidates in three upazilas, where it favoured its ally Jamaat-e-Islami candidates to run.
Both the main parties also have dissidents vying for the vice-chairmen posts in several upazilas.
In the second phase, the AL had 57 rebel chairman candidates in 42 of the 117 upazilas and the BNP had 51 rebels in 41 upazilas.
Meanwhile, the government has deployed army personnel alongside members of police, Ansar and Border Guard Bangladesh, to ensure peaceful voting.
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