The voter turnout in the second phase of upazila elections on Tuesday was estimated to be above 30 percent, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said.

He revealed the figure while talking to reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon in the afternoon.

The CEC said the election was held in a fair and peaceful manner. Where there has been an attempt to rig the vote, the EC has taken action immediately. A total of 25 people have been arrested and 10 were sentenced to various terms instantly.

 Awal said the exact figure of vote cast would be known Wednesday.

He said there no major violence was reported except a few separate incidents where several people were injured.

When asked about low voter turnout, CEC said that he never considered 30 per cent voter turnout as significant.

According to CEC’s observation the main factor behind low voter turnout is the boycott of the polls by a large opposition political party which distributed leaflets to discourage people from going to the polling centres. It can happen in a democratic political system, he said adding there are may be pros and cons.

 Awal said there is no crisis in “our voting system but it exists in our politics.”  “I think if our politics returns to right track then the crisis regarding voter presence will be solved.”

Starting at 8:00 am the voting continued till 4:00 pm without any break. Balloting was held in 156 upazilas of the country.  In the second phase of the elections the voting centres saw poor turnout of voters. Besides, some stray incidents violence happened in different places across the country.

EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam told the media that voter turnout was approximately 17 per cent within the first four hours of the second phase of upazila elections.

More than 3.52 crore voters – 1,79,05,464 males, 1,72,99,047 females and 237 transgender persons -- are registered under 13,016 polling stations in the 156 upazilas, according to the factsheet provided by the Election Commission on Sunday.

Some 1,824 candidates, including 603 chairman contenders are in the electoral race in the 156 upazila parishads, against a total of 468 posts –-chairman, vice chairman and women vice chairman in each upazila.

The electronic voting machines were used at 24 upazilas in nine districts, while the traditional ballot papers in the rest of the upazilas.