DHAKA, Jan 22: Violence broke out in Bangladesh on Thursday as the country held its first local council polls in 19 years as part of key administrative reforms, police and officials said.

More than 73 million people were eligible to vote for council members outside the major cities in the country’s 480 sub-districts, each with a population of over 200,000 people, the election commission said.

The commission has suspended polls in three sub-districts after supporters clashed with police and snatched ballot papers, despite heightened security.

Seventeen people were injured when police fired rubber bullets at 3,000 supporters of the ruling Awami League party candidate in southeastern Ukhia sub-district, said administrative officer Manzul Alam Bhuiyan.

The authorities also suspended polls in two more sub-districts in northern and eastern Bangladesh after Awami League supporters stormed polling booths and snatched ballot papers, police said.

The country held its first

such local elections in 1990 when it was ruled by a military dictator, but successive democratic governments ditched the system in favour of empowering members of parliament in local council affairs. Political parties cannot directly take part in the elections, but can nominate their candidates for the local council posts.

Election commission spokesman S. M Asaduzzaman said half-a-million police, soldiers and paramilitaries have been deployed across the country for the polls.

The key elections come less than a month after the country held its first parliamentary elections in seven years, with the Awami League party led by ex-premier Sheikh Hasina winning by a landslide margin.—AFP