Polls in most unions largely peaceful
Ballot box snatched in Nilphamari Sadar
Barring an incident of ballot box snatching from a centre in Niphamari Sadar upazila, election to the union parishads in Nilphamari, Sirajganj, Chandpur, Naogaon, Pabna, Jhenidah and Thakurgaon districts was largely peaceful yesterday.
In Nilphamari, the incident took place at Barura Sheikh Para Primary School centre in Chapra Sharamjani Union of Sadar upazila at around 11:00am, reports our correspondent.
Police and local people said all of a sudden about 25 supporters of a chairman candidate entered a polling booth of the centre and took away a ballot box.
Police chased the snatchers and arrested three of them. The arrestees are Rabiul, 45, Ziaul Haque, 28, and Shanchal Hossain, 25. Soon after the incident, voting at the centre was declared postponed.
Law enforcers could not recover the snatched ballot box as of filing of this report at 4:00pm yesterday. Officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station Z M Asaduzzaman said law enforcers are raiding different areas to recover the ballot box.
Polling at other centres of Chapra Sharamjani Union and to seven union parishads in the upazila was held peacefully. Election in the rest seven unions of the upazila will be held on June 9.
According to our correspondent, peaceful UP elections were held in the following districts yesterday.
In Sirajganj, no untoward incident was reported from any of the 122 polling centres in ten unions of Sadar upazila. Voting started at 8:00am and continued till 4:00pm without any break.
In Chandpur, elections to 14 union parishads in Sadar upazila were held peacefully. As many as 64 chairman candidates, 441 member candidates and 115 women for reserved seats contested the elections.
In Jhenidah, peaceful voting took place at 112 centres in 12 unions under Moheshpur upazila.
Upazila Election officer Azizul Islam told this correspondent that 56 chairman and 395 member candidates and 122 women candidates for the reserved seats took part in the elections to 12 union parishads.
15 magistrates, two teams of Rab and 32 patrol teams of police were deployed in the unions to maintain law and order during polling.
In Naogaon, election to eight union parishads under Dhamurhat upazila was held peacefully. Male and female voters were seen standing in queues at all 74 centres in the unions to cast their votes.
In Pabna, although 37 out of 55 poling centres in six unions of Faridpur upazila were earlier identified as risky, no incident occurred at the centres during voting yesterday.
Election Office sources said 29 chairman and 195 member candidates and 64 women candidates for the reserved seats contested the election to six union parishads.
In Thakurgaon, elections to six union parishads in Haripur upazila were held peacefully.
According to District Election Office (DEO), 28 candidates contested the election for chairman posts, 233 for member posts and 18 for women reserved seats of six union parishads in the upazila.
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