Online Desk: Voting in Barishal City Corporation (BCC) and Khulna City Corporation (KCC) elections began on Monday morning using electronic voting machines (EVMs). The voting started at 8:00am and will continue until 4:00pm without any break.

The elections are being held at 1,732 booths of 289 polling centres using around 3,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs). The Election Commission (EC) has installed many cameras to constantly monitor the polling centres.

In Barishal, candidates from ruling Awami League, opposition Jatiya Party, Zaker Party and Islami Andolan Bangladesh are vying for the mayoral post.

The main contest is expected to be held between AL candidate Abul Khair Abdullah, Jatiya Party’s Md Iqbal Hossain and Islami Andolan’s Mufti Syed Md Faizul Karim. A total of 276,298 voters from 30 wards will be able to exercise their franchise in the city election.

Some 106 polling centres, out of total 126, have been marked as ‘risky’.   A total of 4,400 members of police Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Armed Police Battalion (APBn) and Ansar have been deployed to main the law and order during the voting. The entire voting is being held with EVMs and CCTV cameras will be there in the polling centres.

In Khulna, there are five mayoral candidates, 136 councillor candidates in 31 wards and 39 reserve councillor candidates. A total of 535,529 voters can cast their votes in the election.

Voting is being held in 1,732 booths of 289 centres. The EC has already installed some 2,310 CCTV cameras to constantly monitor the polling.

Talukder Abdul Khaleque, current mayor and president of Khulna city AL, is contesting the polls as the ruling party’s mayoral candidate while Shafiqul Islam from Jatiya Party, Abdul Awal from Islami Andolon Bangladesh, SM Sabbir Hossain from Jaker Party and independent SM Shafiqur Rahman are there in the race.