AL takes lead in 3rd phase of UZ polls

After its successive poor show in the first two phases of elections, the ruling Awami League took a lead in the third phase of upazila polls held on Saturday with its favourites winning in 36 upazilas closing the gap against its archrival BNP that won in 27 upazilas, reports UNB.
Besides, seven candidates loyal to Jamaat-e-Islami and five independent chairman candidates, including four known as AL rebel and one BNP rebel also became winners in the upazila polls.
The third phase local body election was held in 81 upazilas across the 41 districts amid widespread violence that left two people dead in Bagerhat and Shariatpur districts.
With Saturday's election results, the number of AL-backed chairman candidate winners rose to 113 while that of BNP to 122 and Jamaat to 27.
Some 63.52 per cent of voters cast their votes in the third phase elections in 81 upazilas of the country's 41 districts.
According to the Election Commission, the voter turnout in Saturday's elections was 63.52 per cent.
The highest 84.50 per cent voter turnout was recorded at Durgapur upazila in Rajshahi, while the lowest 47.23 per cent at Fulbaria in Mymensingh.
Out of 1,31,06242 voters in the 81 Upazilas, a total of 83,24,812 voters exercised their franchise on Saturday in 5417 polling stations.
But the violence forced the suspension of voting in 27 polling stations in 13 upazilas.
Of the cast votes, 79,54,957 were found valid in the third phase of the countrywide 4th upazila election.