Chief Election Commi-ssioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said on Wednesday 30 to 40 per cent voters peacefully cast their votes in the first phase of Upazila Parishad election on Wednesday.
Speaking to journalists at a press briefing after the voting ended at 4:00 pm at Agargaon Election Commi-ssion (EC) Secretariat he said, "The voter turnout was estimated around 30 to 40 per cent. Due to rain in some parts of the country and the ongoing paddy harvesting season the voter turnout was lower than our expectation."
CEC said, "It could have been better if voter turned out more. We were concerned about voting atmosphere, whether the voters were able to come to the polling booths and cast their votes freely."
CEC said 34 incidents of clashes occurred in which 37 people were injured. All this happened outside the polling centres.
"So far polling ended peacefully, we have done our duty. Some irregularities occurred like clashes. Two centres were declared closed," said Awal.
CEC said, "In the first round of upazila elections across the country, 30 to 40 per cent votes were cast.
However, it would be better if more voters came to the polling stations. However it is not ECs concern how much vote is cast in an election."
Md Jahangir Alam said, "The sky was cloudy since morning of the polling day and rained in many places. Some Char areas where electricity remained cut off since last night due to the storm. Due to these reasons the voter turnout was less than our expectation."
