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This morning the voting started amid risk of rain using electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the city corporation elections in Rajshahi and Sylhet.
The polling was started casting from 8:00 am and continued till 4:00 pm without a break.
Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) started being operating in 90s.
RCC had 30 wards. As many as four mayoral candidates are vying for the mayor post. Around 46 candidates were contesting for 10 reserved women councilor posts and 111 candidates for 30 general councilor posts. Total voters in this city were 3,51,982 people. There were 155 polling stations and 1153 polling booths in RCC area.
AS many as 16 BNP members were running for the position of councilor in Rajshahi even though the party did not participate in the election. In addition, nine Jamaat-e-Islami candidates took part in the election.
The mayoral candidates were: Bangladesh Awami League nominated and former mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton (Boat), Jatiya Party candidate Saiful Islam Swapan (Plough) and Jaker Party Latif Anwar (Rose).
Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) was established in 2002. Sylhet city elections have been held 4 times so far. Apart from of Awami League or BNP, no one has been elected as mayor there so far.
According to the office of returning officers in Sylhet, there were a total of 4,87,753 voters in the city. There have been 42 general wards. Eight candidates were contesting for the mayor post where 273 for the ward councilor post and 87 for the reserved ward (14 posts) councilor post. There were a total of 1,364 polling booths in 190 polling centers.
The Awami League`s Md. Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, the Jatiya Party`s Nazrul Islam Babul, the Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB)`s Mahmudul Hasan, and the Zaker Party`s Zahirul Alam were the contenders for mayor.
On June 13, the day after the party`s mayoral candidate for Barishal City Corporation came under attack during voting, the IAB candidate abstained.
Mohammad Abdul Hanif Kutu, Salah Uddin Rimon, Mostaque Ahmad Rouf Mustafa, and Md. Shahjahan Miah were the independent candidates for mayor.
Around 132 centers have been designated as "important," which is another word for "risky," and more security was provided in these locations.
Police and ansar forces were present in the centers. In addition, security tasks were being carried out by 15 strike teams, 51 mobile police units, and Rapid Action Battalions.
Additionally, the Critical Response Team (CRT) and Armored Personnel Carrier of the Police had been put on standby in case of crises.
In addition, the city was overseen by 10 magistrates commanding 10 BGB platoons, 42 executive magistrates, and 14 judicial judges for the prompt trial of election-related offenses.
In order to maintain surveillance from the EC headquarters, the Election Commission had also deployed 1,747 closed circuit cameras in the polling places.
