EC READY TO HOLD RANGPUR CITY POLLS IN FREE, FAIR MANNER: CEC

KM Nurul Huda

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda has said the Election Commission (EC) has completed all preparations to hold the Rangpur City Corporation (RpCC) polls in a free, fair and credible manner on Thursday.

"All preparations have been completed for holding the RpCC polls and the overall situation is in favor of this...We hope that the election will be held in a free, fair and transparent manner," he said at a press briefing over the RpCC polls at the Media Center of the Nirbachan Bhaban in city's Agargaon on Wednesday.

Election Commissioners Md Rafiqul Islam, Brigadier General (Retd.) Shahdat Hossain Chowdhury and Kabita Khanam and Acting Secretary of the EC Helaluddin Ahmed were present in the press briefing.

CCTV cameras will be used at three voting centers, Huda said, adding that they cannot confirm the use of new EVMs (Electronic Voting Machine) in tomorrow's polls.

Election Commissioner Md Rafiqul Islam said the EC has taken all preparations so that the voters can cast their votes peacefully.

Adequate number of law enforcers will be deployed for security, he added.

A total of seven candidates for the mayoral posts, 211 candidates for 33 general councilor posts and 65 candidates for 11 reserved posts for female councilors ended their hectic last-moment electioneering last night.

Polling will begin at 8 am tomorrow in all 1,122 polling booths of 193polling centres under 33 wards in RpCC area and continue till 4 pm without any break.

Counting of votes will start subsequently at Police Community Hall in the city.

A total of 393,994 voters including 196,356 males and 197,638 females would apply their voting rights.