The voting began around 8 am and will continue till 4 pm without any break.
Seven mayoral candidates, including Awami League's Rezaul Karim Chowdhury (with 'Boat' symbol) and BNP's Shahadat Hossain (sheaf of paddy), are contesting the polls.
The Election Commission (EC) hoped that the city polls would be held in a fair and peaceful manner, EC Secretary Md Alamgir told reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital.
Also read: Municipal Elections Phase II: Votes being counted after low-key polling
Nearly 19.39 lakh voters – 992,033 men and 946,673 women – are expected to exercise their franchise in the election.
Voting will be held at 4,886 booths of 735 polling stations in 41 wards of the port city.
Tight security
Seventy-five magistrates – 20 judicial magistrates and 55 executive magistrates — have been deployed in the city to punish the violation of election codes, EC Joint Secretary (Public Relations) SM Asaduzzaman said Tuesday.
Also read: CCC Election: 25 platoons of BGB, 9000 policemen deployed
A team of 16 security members will guard each normal polling station, while a team of 18 security members will be deployed in each important (vulnerable) polling station, he said.
Besides, 41 teams comprising members of police, APBn and Battalion Ansar have been deployed as mobile force, while 14 other teams of members of the same agencies as striking force and six other teams are reserved striking force.
Also, 41 teams of Rab and 25 platoons of BGB have been deployed in the election area as mobile forces.
Also read: CCC election: BNP candidate’s campaign ‘attacked, shots fired’
The candidates
The five other mayoral candidates are Zannatul Islam (Handfan) of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Abdul Manjur (Mango) of NPP, MA Matin (Candle) of Bangladesh Islami Front, Muhammad Wahed Murad (Chair) of Islamic Front Bangladesh and independent contestant Khokan Chowdhury (Elephant).
Besides, 172 councillor candidates are contesting in 41 general wards, while 57 women councillor contenders are running in the 14 reserved seats.
On February 16, 2020, the EC announced the schedule for the CCC election fixing the ballot for March 29, but postponed it on March 21, just eight days before the polls, due to the outbreak of Coronavirus in the country.
On December 14, the EC announced January 27 as the fresh date for the city election.