In order to make the next general election an acceptable one, the EC must evolve beyond the use of CCTV cameras.

Every month, a union parishad chairman gets only Tk 1,575 as honorarium from the government. He gets another Tk 2,000 from his UP. During his five-year-tenure, he would receive around Tk 2.14 lakh. He does not get any other pay and perks.

Like in the first phase, violence and irregularities marked the second-phase polls to union parishads yesterday, leaving at least eight people dead and around 130 others wounded in clashes and firing. One of the dead is a 10-year-old boy, who went with his uncle to see voting, and another a Dhaka University student who went to his village ahead of the polls.

The overall achievement of the Election Commission in holding yesterday's union parishad polls peacefully has been marred by irregularities in some places, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said.

With union parishad elections getting closer, supporters of rival candidates are being engaged in clashes in several districts.

With just three days to voting day, candidates and their supporters continue violating electoral codes and resorting to violence in