Voting in Dhaka city polls begins

The voting in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) elections has begun using solely the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in all polling centres for the first time.

The voting began at 8am and it will continue till 4pm without any break on Saturday. 

A total of 13 mayoral candidates are vying in the Dhaka north and south city corporations while around 7500 candidates are contesting for councilor posts in the two city corporations.

In DNCC, there are 30 lakh 10 thousand 273 voters. Of the voters, 15,49,567 are male and 14,60,706 are female. DNCC has 1,318 polling centers while there are 54 general and 18 reserved (women) wards in the city corporation.

In DSCC, there are 1,150 polling centers for 24 lakh 53 thousand 194 voters. Of them, 12 lakh 93 thousand 441 are male and 11 lakh 59 thousand 753 are female. DSCC has 1,150 polling centers while it has 75 general and 25 reserved wards.

However, around 50,000 members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed in the two city corporations to ensure the security.

Members of police and ansar have been deployed to ensure security at polling centers while BGB, RAB and river police will ensure security in the election areas.

As per the directives of the EC, respective forces have deployed their members at specific places.

A total of 129 executive magistrates and 64 judicial magistrates have also been deployed in the two city corporations. Fifty four executive magistrates will stay in the election field in Dhaka north and 75 more in Dhaka south from today to February 2.

A total of 1013 local observers of 22 institutions will monitor the polls while 74 persons will work as foreign observers.