DHAKA: Re-voting in 23 polling centers of five upazilas, postponed in the third and fourth phases of upazila parishad elections, ended and stated counting on Wednesday afternoon.

The voting started at 8:00am in nine polling centers of Gazaria upazila in Munshiganj district and four centers of Laxmipur Sadar upazila, five centers in Dumki Upazila of Patuakhali, two in Kutubdia upazila of Cox’s Bazar and three in Narsindi sadar upazila and continued till 4:00pm without any break.

On March 23 and 31, the voting in 13 centers in the two upazilas was postponed after violent incidents, including snatching and torching ballot boxes, took place.

Munshiganj district returning officer Morshed Chowdhury said some 400 policemen, 220 personnel of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), 150 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel and 200 Ansar men were deployed in the voting centers.

On March 23 upazila polls, Awami League-backed candidate Refayet Ullah Khan got 22,282 votes in 36 centers and his nearest competitor got 11,452 votes in Gazaria Upazila.

Besides, Jamaat-backed aspirant Nasir Uddin got 201 votes more than Awami League candidate Hafiz Ullah in Laxmipur Sadar upazila.

The voting in two postponed centers also ended in Kutubdia upazila of Cox’s Bazar.

Kutubdia upazila election office sources said that the re-voting in Teliakata Government Primary School and West Lemshikhali Government Primary School ended at 4:00pm. The voter number of the centers was 5,207.

On the other hand, re-voting in three polling centers of Narshingdi Sadar upazila also ended.

Some 10,459 voters of the three centers were expected to franchise where BNP backed candidate Kabir Ahmed remained advance with 4,500 votes.

Meanwhile, 19-party backed candidate boycotted the re-voting in Dumki upazila of Patuakhali and called dawn-to dusk hartal in the upazila for Thursday.
 
BDST: 1605 HRS, APR 09, 2014