EC request for army unheeded

With only a day to go before the Narayanganj municipal polls, the government is yet to comply with the Election Commission's (EC) demand of army deployment there.

The commission wrote to the armed forces division last week in line with its earlier decision to deploy army personnel to maintain law and order.

When contacted yesterday, officials at the Election Commission Secretariat said they had no information from the Prime Minister's office in this regard.

Election to the Pourasabha takes place tomorrow more than 16 years after the expiry of its five-year tenure.

Election had been withheld in the municipality due to legal complexities over the delimitation of two wards. The last election was on February 12, 1984 and the five-year tenure expired in 1989.

The EC had came up with an election schedule on December 14 last year.

A total of 81 candidates including five for the chairman post are contending. The chairman candidates are Alhaj Mohammad Murad Mia, Md. Abdus Shabbir Khan, Dr. Selina Hayat Ivy, Nurul Islam and Mahbubur Rahman Masud.

Fourteen candidates are vying for the three reserved wards for women while there are 62 candidates for the nine general wards.

About 1,27,021 are expected to exercise their franchise in tomorrow's polls.