Municipal elections in Bangladesh kicked off on Wednesday morning as people started voting to elect 72 mayors and 971 councillors for 72 municipalities of western Rajshahi and northwestern Rangpur divisions amid tight security.
According to website of leading English newspaper The Daily Star, 49 municipalities of Rajshahi division and 23 of Rangpur division went on polls at about 8:00 a.m. local time, which will continue till 4:00 p.m. local time, kicking off elections to 269 municipalities nationwide.
Over 2.1 million voters are entitled to cast their votes where a total of 362 candidates for mayoral posts and 4,605 for councillor posts are contesting in the 72 municipalities.
Tight security measures have been taken to maintain law and order.
Earlier on Dec. 2 last year, the country’s Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda announced schedules for municipal elections in all the seven divisions of the country.
He also announced that voting will be held in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions on Jan. 12, 2011, in southwestern Khulna and southern Barisal divisions on Jan. 13, capital Dhaka division on Jan. 17 and southeastern Chittagong and northeastern Sylhet divisions on Jan. 18.
On Jan. 6, Election Commissioner M Sohul Hussain announced that during municipal polls, army and navy personnel will be deployed in 56 municipalities and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) will be in 52 municipalities. Considering the vulnerability, the joint forces including army and BGB will be deployed in another 8 municipalities.
According to the country’s electoral rules, local elections are to be held in a non-partisan manner, but political parties indirectly nominate candidates to test their popularities in such local level elections.
Source: Xinhua
Article source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7258811.html
Category: Vulnerabilities/Exploits