The electioneering for the first phase polls to 161 Union Parishads (UPs) in the country and nine municipalities is going to end tonight. The election campaign will end officially at midnight as well as at 12 o’clock at night of Saturday.
The Election Commission (EC) has already completed all the preparations for holding the election which is slated for tomorrow (Monday).
Voting will begin at 8:00 am and will continue till 4:00 pm. The voting will be held in the unions and municipalities following the health guidelines.
The nine municipalities, where elections are going to be held tomorrow, are-- Boalkhali in Chattogram, Chakaria and Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar, Bhanga in Faridpur, Nangalkot in Cumilla, Sonagazi in Feni, Kabirhat in Noakhali, Nawapara in Jashore, and Debiganj in Panchagarh.
Meanwhile, the 161 Union Parishads are in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Noakhali, Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.
The 10th UP elections are being held in four phases. The second phase of the UP polls is likely to be held in early November, while the third phase of the voting will take place in mid-November and the fourth phase will be held at the end of November or first week of December, said EC sources.
In March this year, the EC decided to hold elections to all UPs in several phases. As per the decision, the schedule for holding polls to 371 UPs in the first phase was announced on March 3 and the elections date was fixed on April 11. However, the election was postponed due to the Covid-19 situation.
Later on June 3, the elections were rescheduled for June 21. However, as the Covid-19 situation worsened in bordering areas, polls were postponed in 167 UPs and the polls were held to the rest of 204 UPs.
Later, the EC in the beginning of September decided to hold the elections to 161 Union Parishads on September 20. The commission took the decision as the Covid-19 infections had been decreased.
On February 11 in 2016, the schedule for the 9th UP elections were announced in party-symbol for the first time and the elections were held in that year in five phases in about 4500 UPs. The UP elections this year will also be held in party-symbol.
EC Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandakar said that the schedule for other phases would be announced soon. He said that the current commission would need to hold elections to about 4,100 UPs by December. The decision about the polls will be taken at the 85th meeting of the EC. The meeting is likely to be held next week.
Alongside the UP polls, the EC wants to complete the elections to Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), Cumilla City Corporation (CCC), some municipalities and some by-polls in several upazilas this year.
EHJ/
