Vote count has begun in the Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) polls.

Apart from a few sporadic incidents, the Gazipur polls ended peacefully.

Starting from Tuesday morning at 8am, voting went on till 4pm. Voting was suspended at seven centres by returning officers for various reasons.

While voter turnout was sparse early in the morning, the numbers saw a marked rise in the afternoon. The presence of women voters was noteworthy.

At the Kassempur madrasa centre, clashes erupted between two rival councilor candidates, resulting in five wounded persons.

Later, police went, controlled the situation and suspended voting for some time.

Apart from this, voting was suspended at certain centres due to ballot paper shortage, claimed election authorities.

There were 425 polling stations in 57 wards for 11,37,736 voters in the city corporation area.

Returning Officer Rakib Uddin Mandol in the afternoon at a press conference said, “The election is being held in a free, fair and peaceful manner. But voting was stopped at some centers as allegations of irregularities were raised.”

Awami League candidate Jahangir Alam along with his daughter went Kanaiya Government Primary School centre and cast his vote about 9:15.

After casting his franchise, he said, “I will accept the decision of people. I am mentally prepared for anything.”

He hoped that people in Gazipur would elect him to be the mayor of the city.

After casting his votes, Hasan said, “Yesterday night, I asked the chief election commissioner why my polling agents are being arrested even after instruction not to harass them. He said he would take action but, he did not.”

He alleged that “BNP polling agents were driven out from many centres and some are arrested by plain-cloth police. But, I will fight till end. I am confident about my winning hundred percent.”

Meanwhile, BNP candidate Hasan Uddin Sarkar at a press conference at Gazipur BNP office on Monday afternoon demanded stopping the election.

“About 100 BNP polling agents were driven out from the centres. I demand that the Election Commission stops the polls,” Hasan said

He, however, could not give specific information about from which centres the agents were driven out.

Demanding the resignation of the Election Commission, he said, “If they don’t cancel the polls, then I will stay in the race until it finishes.”

He said, “I am going to the district returning officer to file a written petition to stop the polls.”

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.