Dhaka, May 8 -- The voter turnout in the sixth Upazila Parishad elections was less than 10 per cent in the first two hours of voting on Wednesday, according to Ashok Kumar Debnath, additional secretary to the election commission.

"In some places, 7 per cent of voters showed up while in other places it was 8 per cent from 8:00 am to 10:00 am," he said.

Voting opened at 8:00 am on Wednesday in 139 Upazilas across the country. As per the schedule, voting will continue until 4:00 pm in 11,556 poll centres without any break.

More than 31.4 million voters can cast their ballots in the first phase of the election and 1,619 candidates are participating in the election.

Voters in 22 upazilas are using electronic voting machines (EVMs) to cast ...