Voting begins in Khulna civic polls

Talukdar Abdul Khalek and Nazrul Islam Manju
Talukdar Abdul Khalek and Nazrul Islam Manju

Voting in the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) election has begun on Tuesday morning to elect its new mayor and councillors.
The polling stations were opened at 8:00am and will continue till 4:00pm, reports UNB.
Awami League’s Talukder Abdul Khalek casted his vote at Pioneer Girls’ High School polling centre around 8:07am.
A total of five mayoral candidates, 148 general councillor and 38 reserved-seat female councillor candidates are there in the election race.
The mayoral contenders are Awami League’s Talukdar Abdul Khalek, Nazrul Islam Manju of BNP, Jatiya Party’s Shafiqur Rahman Mushfiq, Islami Andolan Bangladesh’s Maulana Mozammil Haque and CPB’s Mizanur Rahman Babu.
They are contesting the election with their respective party’s symbol, for the first time in the Khulna City Corporation.
The Election Commission has taken additional security measures to avoid any kind of violence.
A total of 493,093 voters -- 248,986 males and 244,107 females-are expected to vote in the election.
Of the total 289 polling stations, 234 have been considered risky.
Some 9,500 policemen and members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Armed Police Battalion and Ansar have been deployed in the election areas.
Sixteen platoons of BGB consisting of 640 members remained deployed from Sunday afternoon while 31 magistrates remained stationed in as many wards.