With archrivals Awami League and BNP going head to head, the country’s attention will be fixed on Dhaka as the capital goes to polls tomorrow to elect mayors and 172 councillors of its two city corporations.
The elections have already attracted the people’s attention as they will exercise their franchise through electronic voting machines [EVMs] for the first time to elect mayors of the two city corporations.
A total of 13 mayoral candidates -- six in the Dhaka north and seven in the Dhaka South City Corporation -- are contesting the polls.
Four councillor candidates, two general ward councillors and two women councillor’s (as part of a quota) backed by Awami League were elected unopposed in DSCC.
Around 58 lakh people – 30,35,621 in DNCC and 27,67,488 in DSCC -- will exercise their franchise using EVMs.
Tight security measures have been taken by the administration to ensure a free, fair, peaceful and congenial atmosphere for the elections.
Around 49,000 law enforcers from different agencies including Rapid Action Battalion, Border Guard Bangladesh, Armed Police Battalion, Police and Ansar will remain on duty at different areas during the election to avert any untoward situation and irregularities, according to Election Commission sources.
The voting will begin at 2,468 centres around 8:00am simultaneously and will continue till 4:00pm without any break, according to the schedule.
All election materials have already been sent to the polling centres to make the efforts to hold the election in a free, fair and credible manner.
Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda called upon all polling agents not to leave their respective voting centres of their own accord during elections.
