Voting for the fifth phase of the union parishad (UP) polls was on Wednesday.
Polling began at 8:00am Wednesday and continued till 4:00pm. Among the 708 UP, EMV will be used in 40 of them.
In the fifth phase, voting is underway in 95 upazilas of 48 districts. Extra security arrangements have been taken in 31 upazilas of 19 districts. Magistrates, BGB and RAB members have been deployed in three districts. The districts are Chapainawabganj sadar, Gazaria in Manikganj, Pantitola in Naogaon.
Besides, additional magistrates have been deployed at Domar in Nilphamari, Madhukhali and Sadarpur in Faridpur, Saghata and Fulchhari in Gaibandha, Jhenaigati and Sreevardi in Sherpur, Madhabpur and Chunarughat in Habiganj, Nangalkot in Comilla and Chadina.
Moreover, the number of RAB and BGB members has been increased in Asashuni of Satkhira, Faridganj of Chandpur, Haimchar and Kachua, Sadar and Ashuganj of Brahmanbaria and Boalkhali and Chandnaish of Chittagong.
People concerned said that besides the party candidates of Awami League, a large number of rebel candidates of the party are also in the field in this phase of election. There are fears of violence as multiple candidates from the ruling party are in the fray. Therefore, additional security measures have been taken.
Some 36,456 candidates are contesting in the fifth phase of Union Parishad elections. Among them 3,274 are chairman, 7,950 are reserved members and 39,391 are general members.
A total of 1,42,20,195 people will cast their votes in this phase. Of them, 60,80,140 are male voters, 8,36,031 are female voters and 21 are third gender voters.
To date, four rounds of voting have already been completed in the ongoing UP elections. On June 21 and September 20 last year, 369 union council elections were held in the first phase and on November 11, 733 union council elections were held in the second phase. In the third phase on November 26, voting was held in 1,000 UPs. In the fourth phase, 736 UP votes were cast on December 28. The sixth phase of UP Voting will be held on January 31 in 219 UPs and on February 8 seventh and final phase in 138 UPs.
