Bangladesh ruling coalition faces popularity test as voting gets underway in crucial Gazipur municipal polls

DHAKA, June 26 (Xinhua) — Voting is underway in Bangladesh’s crucial Gazipur municipal polls that will test the popularity of the grand alliance government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party before national polls slated for later this year.
The corporation in Gazipur, 40 km north of the capital Dhaka, has a total of 1.14 million voters.
Voting started at the 425 polling centers at 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday and will continue through 4 p.m..
According to Returning Officer’s office, a total of 345 candidates, including seven for mayoral post, 254 for councilor posts, 83 for reserved posts for women, are vying in the polls in which AL’s arch rival ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s largest Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have also fielded their candidates.
As part of three-tier security measures, some 16,000 members of different law enforcement agencies have been deployed to maintain the law and order situation.  Enditem