A presiding officer and a policeman were stabbed at a polling centre in Cumilla’s Barura upazila during the ongoing UP polls on Sunday, police said. The injured were identified as Presiding officer Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan and SP Abu Hanif. Read: Cumilla councillor's murder: 2 more accused held Police said Presiding Officer Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan was stabbed on his left hand and SI Abu Hanif was hacked in his waist when they tried to stop some miscreants from capturing the polling centre at Dewatali Government Primary School in Jalam union at 11am. The miscreants also snatched the SP’s pistol. Later, the presiding officer was sent to the Upazila Health Complex while the SP Hanif was sent to Cumilla Medical College Hospital in critical condition. Read: Ward councillor among two shot dead in Cumilla gun attack In this regard, Barura Upazila Election Officer Azharul Islam said the polling at the centre will be cancelled due to the violence. Iqbal Bahar, officer-in-charge of Barura Police Station, said additional forces have been deployed to prevent further violence.

A college teacher roped in as a presiding officer for the union parishad (UP) election, died at a polling station in Kushtia on Wednesday night. The deceased was identified as Joynal Abedin, a teacher of Nimtala College of Mirpur upazila. He was assigned to the Ramnagar Titula polling station in Mirpur. Read: Lone digital X-Ray machine out of service for 17 months at Kushtia Hospital Joynal complained of breathing difficulty around 11pm and died within minutes, said returning officer of Kursha union Nurul Islam. "We suspect he died of cardiac arrest." Voting in 11 union parishads in Mirpur upazila and six in Bheramara upazila is currently underway as the second phase of polls kicked off in Bangladesh on Thursday. Read: One dead in Narsingdi as UP polls kick off