Fifth Upazila council elections, beginning on Mar 10, will have voting in 87 local government bodies in the first phase.
The Election Commission in a meeting on Sunday decided to organise the Upazila polls in five phases, EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told the media, as per a bdnews24.com report.
In the first phase, elections will be held to 87 Upazilas in Rangpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rajshahi divisions, according to Helal.
The deadline for nomination submission is Feb 11 while the aspirants will be able to withdraw them within Feb 16 after scrutiny on Feb 12 in the first phase, the secretary said.
He also said the aspirants who already hold office in local government bodies must resign from it to be able to submit nomination papers.
Balloting in three other phases will also be held in March, he added. The second phase is scheduled for Mar 18, third phase Mar 24, and fourth phase on Mar 31. The fifth and final phase of voting will be held on June 18.
The commission is organising the polls to elect chairperson, vice-chairperson and female vice-chairperson of at least 480 of the 492 Upazila councils.
It will deploy electronic voting in the Sadar Upazilas.
Additional deputy commissioners and district election officers will work as returning officers.
