DHAKA: The third phase of Union Parishad (UP) voting began at 8am Saturday (April 23) and will continue till 4pm. 

According to the information of Election Commission (EC), voting to the 616 UPs started today, of them 591 Ups started voting for chairman aspirants. 

Some 10,980,355 people will exercise their franchise in third phase UP election. 

In Saturday polls, AL-nominated 25 candidates have been elected unopposed, while the BNP has no candidate in 61 UPs, according to EC statistics.

Fourteen political parties are participating in the polls and the number of chairman aspirants is 1,487 and independent candidates are 1,185. 

Elections to 725 UPs were held on March 22 in first phase and 639 UPs on March 31 in the second phase. 

Polls to 743 UPs are scheduled for May 7 in the fourth phase and 733 on May 28 in the fifth phase. Around 700 more UPs will go to polls in the sixth phase in June.
 
BDST: 1019 HRS, APR 23, 2016
SAS/AKA