Polls open in 97 upazilas

The residents of 97 upazilas of 40 districts started casting their votes at 8am today (Wednesday) to choose their long list of representatives to upazila parishads in the first phase of local body elections. The voting will continue till 4pm without any break. A total of 1259 candidates are contesting the election against 291 posts in the 97 upazilas. Of them, 429 are chairman candidates and 505 vice chairman contenders apart from 325 vice chairman candidates contesting the election for the post set aside for women. There are 1,62,15,437 voters, including 80,81,384 males and 81,54,053 females, who can exercise their franchise in 42,756 booths of 6,889 polling stations in the 97 upazilas. Alongside regular law enforcers, army personnel are working as a striking force to maintain a polls-friendly environment in the election areas. Each upazila has got a platoon of army members (34 members), EC secretariat sources said, according to UNB.