4th phase of UP polls today

The fourth phase of the country's sixth Upazila Parishad (UP) Election is set to be held in 60 upazilas under 26 districts in the country today (Wednesday), reports UNB.

The voting will begin at 8:00am and continue till 4:00 pm without any break.

A total of 721 candidates are in the electoral race against 180 posts of 60 Upazila Parishads.

The candidates include 251 chairman contenders, 265 vice chairman and 205 women (reserved) vice chairman contestants.

Some 14.4 million voters (exactly 1,43,57,820) are registered under 5,144 polling stations in the 60 upazilas, according to the factsheets provided by the Election Commission on Tuesday.

Among them, the electronic voting machines will be used in six upazilas, while the traditional ballot papers will be used in the rest upazilas.

On April 24 last, the Election Commission announced the schedule for third phase Upazila Parishad polls.

A security team of 17-19 members would guard each polling station in the plain districts, while a security team of 19-21 members would protect a polling station in the Chittagong hill tracts and very remote areas.

This time, the Election Commission is arranging the sixth Upazila Parishad election in four phases.