Mohammad Akhter Hossain:
The voter turnout in the second phase of upazila elections on Tuesday was estimated to be above 30 per cent, chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said.
He revealed the figure while talking to reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon in the afternoon.
Starting at 8:00am the voting continued till 4:00pm without any break. Balloting was held in 156 upazilas of the country.
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In the second phase of the elections the voting centres saw poor turnout of voters. Besides, some stray incidents violence happened in different places across the country.
EC secretary Md Jahangir Alam told the media that voter turnout was approximately 17 per cent within the first four hours of the second phase of upazila elections.
More than 3.52 crore voters — 1,79,05,464 males, 1,72,99,047 females and 237 transgender persons — are registered under 13,016 polling stations in the 156 upazilas, according to the factsheet provided by the Election Commission on Sunday.
Some 1,824 candidates, including 603 chairman contenders are in the electoral race in the 156 upazila parishads, against a total of 468 posts — chairman, vice-chairman and women vice-chairman in each upazila.
The electronic voting machines were used at 24 upazilas in nine districts, while the traditional ballot papers in the rest of the upazilas.
