Third Phase of UP Elections Was Non-Violent: EC Secretary

Election Commission (EC) Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandaker has termed the third phase of Union Parishad (UP) elections as a 'model of non-violent elections'.

He was responding to a question from reporters at the Election Commission building after the third phase of UP elections in different parts of the country on Sunday (November 28).

The EC secretary said the polls were peaceful except for a few isolated incidents. Voters were also able to cast their votes in a festive atmosphere.

Regarding the injury of SA TV journalist in Laxmipur, Humayun Kabir Khandaker said, "As soon as we came to know about this, we informed the district administration." They are recovering the camera and preparing the case.

Claiming that there was "less violence" in today's polls than in the previous two rounds, the EC secretary said law enforcement was more active than ever before and that rival candidates were more tolerant. In that case, the violence will gradually decrease.

Humayun Kabir Khandaker said that the number of isolated incidents has decreased this time. Earlier, there were casualties in the violence but this time it did not happen. However, the Election Commission has always hoped that not a single incident of violence would take place anywhere.

It was informed in the briefing that in the third phase, voting was supposed to be held in 1000 UPs and 9 municipalities but voting was not required in 14 UPs of Chittagong district as all the chairman and member candidates were elected without contest. In the remaining 986 UPs, more than 70 per cent votes have been cast initially. In addition, polling at 21 polling stations has been suspended due to the control of polling station presiding officers.