Electioneering in 116 UZs ends midnight

The curtain falls on the tense election campaign in 116 upazila (UZs) parishads of the country’s 52 districts on Tuesday midnight, 32 hours before the voting opens in the upazilas. The voting will take place from 8am to 4pm on Thursday without any break in the second phase election in the 116 upazilas. “No one can call or participate in any rally, procession or showdown in the election areas for 64 hours — 32 hours before the voting and the same period after that,” said an Election Commission (EC) press release on Tuesday. Besides, the release said, no one can indulge in aggressive or anarchic behaviour or intimidate voters or any person engaged in election duty, or brandish arms or flex muscle. A total of 1352 candidates are contesting the election against 348 posts in the 116 upazilas. Of them, 505 are chairman contenders, 511 vice chairman candidates and 336 are vice chairman candidates for the post set aside for women. There are 1,96,62,648 voters — 98,40,868 males and 98,21,780 females– who can exercise their franchise through 51315 booths of 8063 polling stations in the upazilas, according to a news agency.