EC wants 1,242 magistrates for UP elections

The Election Commission (EC) has sent letters to the public administration and law ministries requesting for magistrates to be assigned to each of the 414 upazilas during the Union Parishad polls beginning May 31, reports bdnews24.com. In this phase of the polls, EC will assign one judicial and two executive magistrates in each upazila, Helal Chowdhury, EC deputy secretary (law) told the news agency. The executive magistrates would be assigned the respective upazila three days before the polls and the judicial magistrate two days before. They will work there for five and four days, respectively. The second-phase polls in 3,813 unions under 57 districts will be held in 36 days. Deadline for submission of nomination papers for the elections ended on May 9. Helal said the magistrates would be assigned through gazette notification as soon as the ministries provide a list.