Feature: City corporations in Dhaka, Chittagong hold local polls

Elections for mayoral posts in city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong were held Tuesday with thousands seen queuing in polling booths starting at 8:00 a.m.

In many polling centers, women voters outnumbered men.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) has said that it had already finalized all the preparations for the upcoming city polls as election materials, including ballot papers, have already reached local election offices.

Polling was by and large peaceful until midday Tuesday although there were some isolated reports of election-related incidents.

Banners and posters proliferated in Dhaka streets calling the citizens to support their respective candidates. There was a festive mood among the voters and candidates.

It was a public holiday in the three corporations, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC).

Security has been heightened in many areas of Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and southeastern seaport city Chittagong in preparation for city corporation and municipal polls.

A large number of law enforcers have been sighted on streets in Dhaka and Chittagong.

According to the country's electoral rules, city corporation and municipal elections are to be held in a non-partisan manner, but political parties indirectly nominate candidates to test their popularity in such local elections.

There was a mixed picture during the balloting with some people at some polling centers reporting no problems while others complained about some electoral fraud.

Starting from 8:00 a.m. voting continued up to 4:00 p.m. without any break.

"I'm a first-time voter, I feel great to cast my ballot for my favorite candidate," said Monirul Islam, a young voter in Dhaka North City Corporation.

Rafiqul Islam, an old voter, said that he has never seen so much enthusiasm and happiness among the voters as they lined up in their respective voting precincts.

"It's great to see so many people coming to exercise their right of suffrage," Islam said.

Representatives of various candidates were seen assisting voters to find their voters'ID numbers at polling centers.

As part of security preparations, only voters who have been properly screened were allowed to enter the polling booths.

"We've ordered security to be tightened to avoid any untoward incident," said Benazir Ahmed, director general of Rapid Action Battalion, after visiting the polling center No. 634 of DNCC.

Mozammel Hossain, an agent of BNP-backed mayor candidate, told Xinhua that so far, the election was peaceful and orderly.

Voter Rafiqul Islam said that he did not encounter any problem in casting his vote.

Ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, also chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has campaigned for her party-endorsed candidates for city corporation and municipal polls, although her arch rival Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Raushon Ershad had to stay away from the campaign due to the electoral code of conduct.

Some 500 magistrates, along with around 100,000 law enforcers, were on standby Tuesday to deal with election-related violence or violations of the election code of conduct.

Apart from them, the army has also been ordered to stay inside their barracks as reserve forces.

As of midday Tuesday, no major incident has so far been reported. But some isolated incidents of clashes among supporters of candidates and vandalism have been reported in Dhaka and Chittagong. Endi