<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The first phase of the country’s sixth Upazila Parishad Election is set to be held amid the balloting in 139 upazilas of 59 districts in the country on Wednesday.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The votes will be cast from 8:00am to 4:00pm without any recess.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some 1630 candidates, including nearly 570 chairman contenders are in the electoral race in the 139 upazila parishads against a total of 417 posts –-chairman post, vice chairman and women vice chairman posts in each upazila.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 2.80 crore people would have voting rights in the upazilas, according to the data of the Election Commission.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A security team of 17-19 members would guard each polling station in the plain districts, while a security team of 19-21 members would protect a polling station in the Chittagong hill tracts and very remote areas. The balloting will be held in some 10,400 polling stations, reports UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On March 21, the Election Commission announced the election schedule for 152 upazila parishads in the first phase.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But all the candidates in five upazilas – Hatia in Noakhali, Munshiganj Sadar, Bagerhat Sadar, Parshuram in Feni and Shibchar in Madaripur– have already been elected uncontested, finding no rival contestant for their respective posts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, the elections to eight other upazilas were postponed on different grounds. The eight upazilas are Narayanganj Sadar, Kumarkhali in Kushtia, Thanchi and Rowangchhari in Bandarban, Gopalpur in Tangail, Mohadevpur in Naogaon, Nangalkot in Cumilla and Sarishabari in Jamalpur.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>