Dhaka -Awami League-nominated chairman candidates won in 132 union parishads (UPs) while BNP-supported contestants came out victorious in 20 unions in the 2nd phase UP elections held on Thursday, UNB news agency reported.
According to the results reaching the UNB news desk till 9:30 am, in Gazipur, six AL candidates were elected unofficially and an independent (AL rebel) candidate won the race in seven UPs of Kaliganj upazila.
In Sylhet, 27 AL candidates were elected unofficially while seven BNP contestants and 12 independent candidates, among them 11 AL rebels, won the polls in 46 union parishads in the division.
Voting in 639 union parishads of 82 upazilas in the second phase of elections began at 8am on Thursday and continued till 4pm without any break.
Seventeen chairman candidates boycotted the election in eight union parishads in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong, Gazipur union of Chandpur, Chowara and Boropara unions under Comilla Sadar Dakkhin upazila, Urfa union parishad in Nakla upazila under Sherpur, six union parishads in Kushtia and Jadabpur union under Jhenidah district on charges of various irregularities.
Fourteen of them belong to BNP, two to AL (rebel), while one is an independent candidate.
Voting at a polling centre in Nayanagar union of Melandah upazila under Jamalpur was suspended as miscreants tried to snatch ballot boxes moments before the voting started.
According to the statistics of the Election Commission, a total of 2,662 chairman contenders, including 1493 from 17 political parties and 1,169 independent candidates, were in the election races in the UPs.
Candidates from two major political parties — ruling Awami League and its archrival BNP — were frontrunners in the election.
BNP had no chairman candidate in 79 UPs while AL fielded candidates in all the 639 UPs.
As many as 31 chairman candidates, all from ruling Awami League, were elected unopposed as there was no rival against their respective posts.
Of the 31 chairman posts that won uncontested, 14 are in Gopalganj, six in Joypurhat, three in Jessore, two in each Dhaka and Madaripur, one each in Kishoreganj and Munshiganj, Sherpur and Sirajganj.
During the first phase union parishad polls on March 22, at least 11 people were killed in violence.
