With a day left for the first phase of the fifth Upazila Council polls, the Election Commission has suspended voting to three upazilas on the allegation of influencing the voters.
Three Upazilas where polls are suspended are Latmonirhat’s Aditmari, Netrokona’s Purbadhala and Sunmangaj’s Jamalganj Upazila, said EC Deputy Secretary Farhad Ahammed Kahan.
The EC has also withdrawn the Patgram police OC and decided to sue the social welfare minister’s APS.
The decisions came at an EC’s meeting on Friday (Mar 8) with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda in the chair.
Instruction has been sent to the respective returning officer to carry out the decisions, said EC sources.
Voting to as many as 87 upazilas will be held in the first phase on Sunday (Mar 10).
Earlier, the CEC wrote to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury over lawmakers complying with the polls code in their constituencies before the Upazila election.
The letter “highlights the electoral code of conduct and requested all concerned to comply with it,” the Speaker told Bangla Tribune Mar 5.
The code of conduct for the Upazila polls defines MPs as privileged persons, enjoying state benefits, and bars them from taking part in campaigns.
The CEC’s letter to the Speaker came after the Election Commission warned before ordering ruling lawmakers Omor Faruk Chowdhury of Rajshahi1, Md Abdul Quddus of Natore-4 and Waresat Hussain Belal of Netrokona-5 to leave Upazila electoral zones in their constituencies for breaching the code.
Elections to as many as 492 Upazilas councils of the country will be conducted in five phases with the second first phase is scheduled to be held on Mar 18, third on Mar 24, fourth on Ma 31 and the last fifth phase election on Jun 18.