In the heat free upazila elections of the first phase of 150 upazilas, 14 people are going to be elected uncontested as there is a single candidate in 12 upazilas against three posts (chairman, vice chairman and reserved women vice chairman).
On Tuesday (April 16), EC (Election Commission) received this information from multiple sources.
The list of unopposed winners includes two chairmen, three male vice-chairmen and seven female vice-chairmen.
EC officials said the number of uncontested winners could increase. Because, next 22 April is the last time to withdraw the nomination papers. On that day it will be final how many candidates have been elected unopposed in how many upazilas.
Bagerhat Sadar Upazila and Munshiganj Sadar Upazila have already submitted their nomination papers for the post of chairman of two upazilas.
Similarly, three candidates have submitted nomination papers for the post of Upazila Vice (Male) Chairman i.e. one each in Cox's Bazar Sadar, Hatia and Sandwip upazilas. Apart from this, there are seven candidates for reserved women vice chairpersons i.e. single candidate in Bagerhat Sadar Upazila, Hatia, Baralekha, Baliadanga, Kushtia Sadar, Matlab Sadar and Damurhuda Upazila.
If the nomination papers of 14 candidates for three positions in these upazilas are scrutinized, all of them will win as a single candidate.
Meanwhile, the country's two main rival political parties, Awami League and BNP, are out of the electoral process officially and thus the election will be one-sided. Its effect has been seen in the ongoing upazila elections like the national parliament elections.
In this year's upazila elections, the EC has made it mandatory to submit nomination papers online. Monday was the deadline for filing nominations.
According to EC data, nominations of 1,891 candidates have been filed in the first phase. Out of this, a total of 696 candidates for the post of chairman, 724 for the post of vice chairman and 471 candidates for the post of vice chairman reserved for women have submitted their nomination papers.
According to EC, one candidate and maximum 11 candidates are competing for the post of chairman in an upazila. However, there are two candidates for the post of chairman in 18 upazilas. Another candidate in two upazilas.
Among them, two upazilas with maximum 11 candidates for the post of chairman are Biswanath of Sylhet and Sarail of Brahmanbaria. There are 10 other candidates, one upazila being Kalmakanda in Netrokona. There are nine candidates each, Roumari of Kurigram, Badalgachi of Naogao, Naldanga of Natore, Harirampur of Manikganj and Bera of Pabna. There are 8 candidates each from Pakundia of Kishoreganj, Gopalganj Sadar, Mahadevpur of Naogao, Domar of Nilphamari and Durgapur.
Apart from this, 7 and 6 candidates are competing in 9 upazilas, 5 in 19 upazilas, 4 in 22 upazilas, 3 in 34 upazilas and 2 in 18 upazilas.
Apart from this, 12 people are contesting as Vice Chairman in Sherpur's Srivardi Upazila, Jhenaigati Upazila and 10 each in Shyamnagar, Ramgati and Kishoreganj Sadar Upazilas of Satkhira. And maximum 8 candidates for the post of reserved women vice chairman in Sylhet's Ghoraghat and Jashore's Monirampur upazilas.
After two days of scrutiny of the candidatures, the nominations will be withdrawn on April 23 and the symbols will be allotted to the contending candidates. 15 consecutive days of campaigning will start after this. Voting will be held on May 8. And the second phase of voting will be held on May 21.