Counting on after ‘festive’ vote

The counting of votes cast in the polls to 97 upazila parishads of the country’s 40 districts began on Wednesday afternoon. The voting in the upazilas ended at 4pm amid stray incidents of violence. The Election Commission said the polling was largely peaceful. At a press briefing at 3:30pm, EC acting secretary Sirajul Islam said, “The election in 97 upazilas was being held peacefully barring some stray incidents.” He said voting in two stations – one in Shailakupa upazila of Jhenidah and another in Nawabganj in Dhaka — was postponed. The polling at 6,889 centres of the 97 upazilas started at 8am and continued till 4pm without any break. A total of 1,259 candidates are contesting the election against 291 posts in the upazilas. Of them, 429 are chairman candidates, 505 vice chairman contenders and 325 vice chairman candidates for the post set aside for women, according to UNB.