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Roundup: Law enforcers flood streets in preparation for Bangladesh's maiden partisan local polls

Xinhua, December 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

l--Karim

DHAKA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Security has been heightened across Bangladesh in preparation for the country's first-ever local body polls on party line nomination slated for Wednesday.

A large number of law enforcers have been sighted in streets of 234 municipalities across the country.

Hundreds of candidates are contesting in the polls for the positions of mayors which for the first time are being held on the party line nomination.

Around 7.1 million voters of the 234 municipalities will exercise their franchise Wednesday to elect 3,924 representatives, including 234 mayors, from over 12,000 aspirants in the municipal elections considered the mini general elections.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has vowed to quell electoral violence in the polls for which political parties directly nominated candidates to test their popularity.

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia, also chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has sought vote for the mayor candidates her party nominated, 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.

Khaleda Zia, who sat out the 2014 national polls, on Monday once again called for the army to be deployed to ensure the local government polls are held in a fair and credible manner.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs has asked law enforcement and intelligence agencies for extra alert in the wake of rising militancy.

Some 1,204 magistrates along with over 100,000 law enforcers have been deployed to deal with possible incidents of election violence and breaching of the election code of conduct in the 3,500 polling stations across the country.

The official campaign period ended Monday midnight.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmad has instructed the law enforcers to take steps to prevent any untoward situation during the elections.

The entire situation is almost peaceful except for a few sporadic incidents of violence, he said.

Police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Rapid Action Battalion, Coastguards and Armed Police Battalion and other law enforcement personnel have begun their election duties since Monday.

They will be on the field until Thursday.

The Election Commission said it has finalized all the preparations for the upcoming city polls and formed a central monitoring cell to monitor the overall security in the 234 municipalities.

Voting will begin from 8:00 a.m. local time and will continue through 4:00 p.m. Wednesday. Enditem