Online Desk:  The first phase of the sixth upazila parishad election is under in 139 upazilas of 59 districts in the country amid high security.

Voting began at 8:00am on Wednesday and continue up to 4:00pm without any recess.

Some 1,635 candidates, including nearly 570 chairman contenders are in the electoral race in the 139 upazila parishads against a total of 417 posts –-chairman post, vice chairman and women vice chairman posts in each upazila.

In the first phase, 31,468,102 voters will exercise their voting rights in 81,804 polling booths of 11,556 centres.

On March 21, the Election Commission (EC) announced the election schedule for 152 upazila parishads in the first phase.

But all the candidates in five upazilas – Hatia in Noakhali, Munshiganj Sadar, Bagerhat Sadar, Parshuram in Feni and Shibchar in Madaripur– have already been elected unopposed and so polling is not needed in those areas.

Besides, the elections to eight other upazilas were postponed on different grounds. The eight upazilas are Narayanganj Sadar, Kumarkhali in Kushtia, Thanchi and Rowangchhari in Bandarban, Gopalpur in Tangail, Mohadevpur in Naogaon, Nangalkot in Cumilla and Sarishabari in Jamalpur.

Apart from this, the EC has suspended voting in three upazilas in the hill district of Bandarban.

This time, the Election Commission is arranging the sixth Upazila Parishad election in four phases.