Polls underway at 57 Zila Parishads

Elections at 57 Zila Parishads began on Monday morning by using electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The voting began at 9:00 am and will continue until 2:00 pm without any break under the supervision of the deputy commissioners who are acting as returning officers, according to the Election Commission.

Voting in the Zila Parishads will be held at 925 booths in 462 centres across the country while 60,866 voters will cast their vote.

Elected representatives of other local government bodies such as Union Parishads, municipalities and Upazila Parishads are eligible to vote in the election.

The Election Commission says it will monitor the polls through CCTV cameras from a monitoring cell set up in its headquarters in Dhaka.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said on Sunday that CCTV cameras will be used in every centre in the Zila Parishad elections just like the recently held Gaibandha-5 elections. The EC suspended the election to the Gaibandha-5 parliamentary seat for "widespread malpractices" recorded in the CCTV cameras.