Less than 20% of voters cast their ballots in the first four hours of the third phase of upazila parishad elections, Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam said during a media briefing this afternoon.
He said the commission has not received information via its apps since this morning due to network issues caused by Cyclone Remal. Instead, the commission collected the turnout data through field-level observations, he added.
Voting began from 8 am and will continue till 4 pm.
A total of 1,152 candidates are competing in this phase. Among them, 397 are vying for the post of chairman, 456 for vice chairman and 229 for the post of female vice chairman.
According to the EC, polling is scheduled in 109 upazilas in this phase, but due to Cyclone Remal, the commission postponed the polling in 22 upazilas.
A good number of law enforcement personnel have been deployed in each general center to hold polling peacefully and to tackle any kind of untoward situation.
