Dhaka: Some 620 Union Parishads (UCs) in 48 districts across the country are going to polls on Saturday in the third phase of the election to the lowest tier of the local government body.

The balloting will be held from 8:00am to 4:00pm without any break.

Nearly 30,000 candidates, including 2,672 chairman contestants, are in the election race in the 620 UCs that have some 1.10 crore voters, reports UNB.

As 25 chairman candidates, all from ruling Awami League, have already been elected uncontested, the voting will be held in 595 chairman posts in this phase.

Of the 25 single chairman candidates, five each are in Kushtia and Munshiganj, four in Narayanganj, two each in Shariatpur, Comilla and Laxmipur, and one each in Jamalpur, Jhenidah, Rajbari, Noakhali and Khagrachhari.

As per the latest statistics provided by the Election Commission, 1,487 candidates from 13 political parties while some 1,185 independent contenders are contesting the polls.

Though AL has contestants in all the UCs, its archrival BNP has no chairman candidates in 81 UCs in this phase.

Besides, 156 chairman candidates of HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party are in the election race.

Meanwhile, 20,943 contestants for member posts and 6,298 candidates for reserved seats (exclusively for women) contesting the election.

Of the contestants, 174 member candidates and 79 candidates for reserved seats have already been elected unopposed finding no rivals against their posts.

Five magistrates–four executive ones and a judicial one–remain deployed to punish polling irregularities for four days from Thursday in each of 84 Upazilas.

Alongside the magistrates, additional number of police, Rab, BGB, APBn, Ansar and Coast Guard would remain deployed for the four days in the election areas to maintain electoral environment.

Since the first two phases of the UC elections were largely marred by violence and irregularities, many fear recurrence of such incidents in the third phase.

Over three dozens of people have so far been killed in election-related violence since 11 February last, the day the Commission announced the schedule for the first phase of the staggered UC elections.

Ruling AL on Thursday last conveyed its party’s chief Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s views to the EC that she does not want to see any anomaly, fault and deviation in the elections, but there is still doubt about whether the EC will be able to check violence and irregularities in this phase.

On 15 March, the EC announced the election schedule for the third phase.

In the first two phases of elections held in March last, a total of 87 AL chairman contestants went unopposed, while BNP had no chairman candidates in some 200 UCs out of 1370.

As part of the EC’s plan to arrange polls to 4,275 UCs out of the country’s total 4546 in six phases by June next, the Commission has so far announced the election schedules for the first five phases.