Gazipur residents are set cast their franchises on Tuesday to elect the city mayor and councillors with all eyes on the central Bangladesh district.
One of the main challenges for both the ruling Awami League and BNP is the internal conflicts among its local leaders.
“All necessary preparations have already been taken to hold the elections in a free, fair and peaceful manner,” EC Secretary Helaluddin Ahmad told state news agency BSS on Monday.
Voting opens at 8am and ends on 4pm with a general holiday announced on Tuesday in the city.
A total of 345 candidates, including seven for mayoral post, 254 for councillor posts, 83 for reserved posts for women, are vying in the polls while 11,37,736 voters will exercise their franchises at 425 polling stations in 57 wards across the city corporation area.
The mayor candidates are ruling Awami League nominated Md Jahangir Alam, BNP nominated Hasan Uddin Sarker, Islami Oikkya Jote nominated Fazlur Rahman (Minar), Islami Andolan Bangladesh nominated Md Nasir Uddin, Bangladesh Islami Front nominated Md Jalal Uddin, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) nominated Md Ruhul Amin and independent candidate Farid Ahmed.
BSS reports that the Election Commission has taken an initiative to inform about the situation of polling stations immediately. The presiding officers will inform the EC Secretariat about overall situation of their respective voting centres through SMS in every two hours.
Besides, EC teams in plainclothes will monitor the polling situation and activities of the election officials at every station. They would interfere in the polls immediately, inform the Returning Officer (RO) and inform the EC, if any irregularities take place in the polling stations.
Returning Officer (RO) Rakib Uddin Mondol will lead a staff of over 500 personnel for conducting the polls, which include 19 assistant ROs, 21 assisting officers, two observer coordinators, 57 observers and the presiding officers for the more than 400 polling stations.
It’s costing the state nearly Tk 60 million to hold the Gazipur City Corporation election, which includes nearly Tk 30 million for the polls and the rest for security.
More than 10,000 security personnel will be deployed in the 425 voting centres across the city with patrol teams of nearly 1,200 RAB and BGB members.
Twenty-two security personnel have been allotted for each voting stations with additional two for risky polling stations.
Nearly 60 mobile teams and 20 strike teams of police will be also deployed. A total of 29 platoons of BGB, 58 teams of RAB will be also on duty.
Besides these, 57 executive magistrates and 19 judicial magistrates have been posted in the city for the election.