Voting in the elections to Rajshahi and Sylhet city corporations is underway on Wednesday.
Voting started at 8am, and it will continue till 4pm without any break.
People were seen standing in long queues to cast their votes in a festive atmosphere since morning in both cities.
Eight mayoral candidates, including Awami League-backed Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, are contesting the polls in Sylhet while four mayoral contenders, including Awami League-backed AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, are contesting in Rajshahi.
Security in Sylhet
At least 2600 law enforcers have been deployed for the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) election to ensure foolproof security.
Besides, 14 judicial magistrates and 42 executive magistrates in 42 wards are perform their duties to take instant action in case of violence,
Forty-two mobile teams have been deployed in each general ward, with 24 striking teams in three general wards each, and six reserve striking teams at each thana. Alongside, RAB team, consisting of 22 members, and one platoon of BGB were set to patrol the wards.
Besides, 272 candidates are contesting for 42 general councillor posts, and 87 are contesting for 14 reserved female seats.
This year, a total of 4,86,605 voters will exercise their franchise at the polls.
There are 190 polling stations and 1,364 polling booths. Besides, 132 centres out of 190 are deemed "vulnerable".
The movement of motorbikes remains off the road from June 19 midnight until June 22 midnight. Movement of trucks, buses, microbuses, private cars and easy-bikes remains off from June 20 midnight until June 21 midnight for the Sylhet city election.
Security in Rajshahi
The local administration has taken five-tier security for the Rajshahi City Corporation election (RCC) to ensure foolproof security.
Alongside police, RAB, BGB and Ansar members are performing their duties to ensure a free and fair election for the people of Rajshahi, said Rajshhai Metropolitan Police Commissioner Anisur Rahman on Tuesday.
Around 250 members of RAB and 10 platoons of BGB are patrolling in the city to check any kind of untoward incident.
Apart from it, 3,514 police members and 935 Ansar members are also on duty.
Returning Officer Delwar Hossain, said there are 155 polling stations in 30 wards of the city. Of these, 148 are declared “vulnerable”.
Besides, 3,614 election officers, 30 executive magistrates and ten judicial magistrates are on the field to ensure a peaceful environment during the election.
A total of 1,560 close circuit cameras have been installed.
A total of 3,51,982 people including 30,157 new voters are scheduled to exercise their franchise in the Rajshahi city polls.
Monitoring through CCTV cameras
The Election Commission (EC) is observing the SCC and RCC polls on Wednesday from the EC auditorium in Dhaka.
A temporary control room has been set up to monitor the elections in the two cities.
Election Commissioners Brigadier General Md Ahsan Habib Khan, Md Alamgir and Rasheda Sultana have been observing the overall situation since 6am on Wednesday morning.
They are monitoring the polls situation through 23 digital display boards, and 368 CCTV cameras in 2,520 voting rooms.
Voting in 345 polling centers is being monitored through the display boards with autorotation after every 10 seconds.
