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Barisal, Sylhet city corpn polls today

Troops withdrawn from election duty in Barisal

Staff Correspondent
Barisal and Sylhet city corporations go to polls today amid tight security.
Polls are being held in the two city corporations for the first time after they were commissioned as corporations two years ago.
Tension mounted in Barisal last
night as a last moment government order asked the district administration to withdraw the army from election duties, according to election officials.
As per the earlier decision, the army was supposed to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order if necessary.
Being informed, all but the ruling party candidate took position in front of the DC's office and their supporters were assembling around the place when this report was filed at 10.00pm last night.
Awami League leaders demanded troops deployment during the voting, otherwise they would go for indefinite strike in Barisal from the following day.
Both the ruling coalition and the opposition are taking the city polls very seriously, as they believe that the results of the polls will have a direct bearing on the country's politics.
The two cities witnessed hectic electioneering over the past weeks. Senior leaders from the ruling BNP and the main opposition Awami League took part in the election campaign in favour of their candidates.
The Election Commission has taken all out preparations to make the polls free and fair. The voting would take place from 8.00am to 4.00pm.The authorities have announced a public holiday to help 3,49,853 voters in Barisal and Sylhet exercise their voting right.
Members of police, BDR and ansar would guard the 169 polling centres. Side by side, magistrates would be on duty in the centres and they would try the unruly elements on the spot.
Various groups have sent
election observers to Barisal and Sylhet.
Twenty-three candidates (9 in Barisal and 14 in Sylhet) are seeking election as mayor. For 76 posts of ward commissioner, including 19 reserved posts for women, the total number of contestants is 579. Of them, 210 are running for the general seats and 50 for the reserved seats in Barisal, while the numbers in Sylhet are 250 and 69 respectively.
Our correspondent from Barisal reports: The Election Commission has appointed SK Abul Kalam, DC of Barisal, as the returning officer. It also appointed 90 presiding officers, 572 assistant presiding officers and 1,144 polling officers for 90 centres and 572 election booths.
In Barisal, a total of 1,63,933 voters, including 78,541women, would elect one mayor from the nine candidates. The main candidates are Whip Mujibur Rahman Sarwar, backed by the four-party alliance, Enayet Pir Khan, the Nagorik Parisahd candidate, and two rebel BNP candidates --Ebaidul Huq Chan and Ahsan Habib Kamal.
Sarwar is a ruling party MP and is also the president of district BNP.
Our Sylhet correspondent reports that all the candidates --14 for mayor, 241 for the general ward commissioners and 69 for women (reserved) seats-- finished their election campaigning yester-
day.
A total of 1, 85000 voters will elect their representatives for the new city.
Local people believe that it would be a contest restricted to the AL backed candidate Badar Uddin Kamran, the incumbent mayor, four-party alliance nominee MA Haque, and the BNP rebel candidate AFM Kamal.
According to police, all the 79 polling centres in Sylhet are vulnerable. However, they said adequate security measures have been taken to counter violence.
The law enforcers have divided the city into 4 sectors for maintaining a peaceful atmosphere during voting.
During the electioneering in Sylhet, senior AL leaders Advocate Abdul Hamid, Abdus Shahid, AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil MP, Asaduzzaman Noor MP, Chittagong City Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Suranjit Sengupta MP, AMA Muhit, Obaidul Qader, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Dr. Amanullah, Sultan Mohammad Mansur and Nurul Islam Nahid campaigned in favour of Kamran.
On the other hand, Finance Minister Saifur Rahman, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury MP, Nazir Hossain MP, Ilyas Ali MP, Dilder Hossain MP, Moulana Farid Chowdhury MP and Mokbul Hossain MP attended various projection meetings of MA Haq.