At the Barishal upazila election, most centres were found to be empty till 9:30 am in the morning. The voting began at 8 am and will run till 4 pm. At Uzirpur, there are 2834 voters but no one was seen at the centre. Presiding officer of the centre, Jayanta Bepari, said, “Hopefully, the presence of voters will rise as the day rolls on.”

No irregularities will be tolerated here, he added.

To maintain law and order, BGB and Coast Guard are patrolling the area. Though the plan was to hold elections in 9 upazilas, in Gournadi and Agoiljhara AL candidates won without contest and therefore, election is being held in seven upazilas.

In Uzirpur upazila in Barishal, the total number of voters is 1 lakh 85 thousand 256 of which, there are 93812 and men and 91444 women voters.

The candidates are— Abdul Majod from AL, Hafizur Rahman AL’s rebellious candidate and Abul Kalam Azad of JSD.

Returning officer of three upazilas, Md. Nurul Alam, said, “To carry out proper voting procedure, one judicial magistrate and one executive magistrate is performing their duties.”

Additional executive magistrate has been appointed to Uzirpur since there is some reported tensions, he added.

“In addition, 12 ansars and three policemen have been deployed at each polling station.”