DHAKA: Elections to 74 upazila parishads will be held in the fifth phase on March 31.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed announced the schedule for the fifth phase of the fourth upazila polls at the media centre of the EC secretariat on Thursday.      

The last date for filing nomination papers is March 2 and the last date for withdrawal of candidacy is March 12 and the nomination papers would be scrutinized on March 5.      

The election commissioner told journalists that all measures have been taken to hold the polls in free and fair manner.  

In the first phase, elections to 98 upazila parishads was held on February 19, and in the second phase, polls will be held in 117 upazilas on February 27.  

The first upazila polls were held in 1995 while the second and third in 1990 and 2009 respectively.

BDST: 1502 HRS, FEB 20, 2014