Voting in the first phase elections to 78 Upazila Parishads in 12 districts is underway on Sunday.

The voting began at 8am and will be continued till 4pm without any break, reports the UNB.

The size of the electorate in the 78 upazilas is 1,42,48,850 (1 crore 42 lakh 48 thousand 850) under 5,847 polling stations across 12 districts: Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Jamalpur, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Sirajganj, Joypurhat, Natore and Rajshahi.

Some 207 chairman candidates, 386 vice chairman candidates and 249 woman vice chairman candidates are contesting positions up for grabs in 78 upazilas.

Besides, 15 chairman candidates, six vice chairman contenders and seven woman vice chairman contestants have already been elected without a vote being cast, in the absence of any valid candidate to oppose them.

The Public Administration Ministry announced a public holiday in the upazilas for Sunday.

Additional security including police, Rab, BGB, and Coast Guard remained deployed in the election areas since Friday. They are slated to remain so till Tuesday.

Besides, a judicial magistrate was deployed in each upazila, and an executive magistrate for every three Union Parishads for the five days to punish any violations of the polls code.

A security team comprising of 15-16 members drawn from police, Ansar and VDP will guard each polling station on the day.