No contestant against 25 AL candidates

Twenty-five ruling Awami League chairman candidates are set to be elected unopposed in the third phase of union parishad polls scheduled to be held on April 23. 

Neither any political party-nominated nor any independent candidate is contesting the election to the UPs, which are mostly in Munshiganj, Comilla, Khagrachhari, Jamalpur, Jhenidah, Narayanganj, Shariatpur and Laxmipur.

Besides, the BNP has no candidates in 81 UPs to run for the eletions in the third phase, according to an Election Commission document released yesterday, a day after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended. 

Around 620 UPs are going to the polls this time.

Fourteen registered political parties, out of 40, are participating in the third phase of elections and there are 2,672 chairman aspirants, according to the EC document.

Elections to 1,364 UPs were held in the first and second phases on March 22 and 31.

In the two phases of polls, the AL candidates secured a landslide victory by winning in 991 unions. Eighty-five of them were elected uncontested.

On the other hand, the BNP-nominated chairman candidates won in 109 UPs, while independent and other political parties' aspirants became successful in 233 union parishads, according to the EC and the media.

Polls to around 743 UPs are slated for May 7 in the fourth phase, and around 1,400 more UPs in two other phases until June, according to EC officials.