UZ Polls: AL favourites 25, BNP 22, others 7

Awami League-backed chairman candidates won elections in 25 upazilas while BNP favourites in 21 upazilas and 7 of other parties at 11.35 pm Saturday  in the third-phase polls in 81 upazilas held on Saturday. Earlier, the voting in the 81 upazilas of 41 districts was held from 8am to 4pm amid widespread violence that killed two people in Bagerhat and Shariatpur districts and injured scores of others. The violence forced the suspension of voting in 26 polling stations in 13 upazilas, said sources at the Election Commission. Last month, the EC arranged elections in 212 upazila parishads -– 98 in the first phase and 114 in the second phase. In the two phases, the candidates loyal to BNP took the chairman posts in 95 upazilas while that of Awami League in 77 and Jamaat in 20 upazilas, according a TV scroll.