DHAKA, Jan 31, 2020 (BSS) – The elections to Dhaka north and south city corporations will be held tomorrow solely through the electronic voting machine (EVM) method for the first time in this major local body polls.
The voting will begin at 8am and it will continue till 4pm without any break. The Election Commission (EC) has already completed all preparations. Election materials are being sent to 2,468 polling centers since morning. Returning officers of Dhaka north and south Md Abul Kashem and Md Abdul Baten have been monitoring the activities.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda said a peaceful atmosphere is prevailing for the polls. He urged the voters to go to polling centers without any fear to exercise their franchise.
Senior Secretary of EC Secretariat Md Alamgir told BSS that the commission has taken adequate measures to ensure security for voters, officers and employees involved with the polls and the polling agents. Earlier, electioneering for the Dhaka city polls ended at 12 midnight on Thursday in line with the electoral rules.
Marking the polls, motorcycle movement has already been stopped since Thursday midnight and the bar will stay till 6am on February 2 while all kinds of vehicular movement will remain stopped from midnight tonight to 6 pm tomorrow.
Besides, plying of water vessels will also remain stopped from midnight tonight to Saturday midnight.
Around 50,000 members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed in the two city corporations to ensure the security.
Members of police and ansar have been deployed to ensure security at polling centers while BGB, RAB and river police will ensure security in the election areas.
As per the directives of the EC, respective forces have deployed their members at specific places.
A total of 129 executive magistrates and 64 judicial magistrates have also been deployed in the two city corporations. Fifty four executive magistrates will stay in the election field in Dhaka north and 75 more in Dhaka south from today to February 2.
A total of 1013 local observers of 22 institutions will monitor the polls while 74 persons will work as foreign observers.
A total of 13 mayoral candidates are vying in the Dhaka north and south city corporations while around 7500 candidates are contesting for councilor posts in the two city corporations.
In Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), there are 30 lakh 10 thousand 273 voters. Of the voters, 15,49,567 are male and 14,60,706 are female. DNCC has 1,318 polling centers while there are 54 general and 18 reserved (women) wards in the city corporation.
In DSCC, there are 1,150 polling centers for 24 lakh 53 thousand 194 voters. Of them, 12 lakh 93 thousand 441 are male and 11 lakh 59 thousand 753 are female. DSCC has 1,150 polling centers while it has 75 general and 25 reserved wards.
