2024-05-09 21:56:40
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said that the first phase of the election was held today in 139 upazilas. We got that information from different places; The election was free, fair and peaceful.
He said this after the polling of the first phase of the upazila election at the election building on Wednesday (May 8).
The Chief Election Commissioner said that there were some sporadic incidents. Some clashes have resulted in some injuries. There have been limited irregularities in a few centres. We have taken immediate action. Polling has been suspended in two centres.
He said, the administration, police, law and order forces were careful enough. They were quite diligent in their duties. They performed their duties with professionalism. Because of that the situation was good enough. According to information from our control room, 34 incidents have occurred. 25 injured and 37 arrested. These incidents happened outside the polling station.
Kazi Habibul Awal said the voting rate could be between 30 and 40 percent. Polling rate may be low due to morning rain and paddy harvesting season. I learned that the voters did not come to the polling station as they were harvesting paddy. Apart from this, stormy rain occurred at some places.
In response to a question, the CEC said that more voters would have been better. But we count who got more votes. My issue is whether the vote was held, whether the voters were able to come; Whether you were able to vote, whether there was any irregularity anywhere. We have done our duty.
Earlier, the Election Commission (EC) started polling at 8 am on Wednesday, which ended at 4 pm.
This time, out of 496 upazilas of the country, the commission has scheduled the election in four phases for 476 upazilas. In the first phase, 152 upazilas were scheduled, but votes were cast in 139 due to various reasons. 28 candidates were elected unopposed in this phase (Chairman eight, general and female vice-chairman 10 each).
In the second phase, polling is scheduled to be held in 160 upazilas on May 21, in the third phase in 112 upazilas on May 29 and in the fourth phase in 55 upazilas on June 5.