13TH NATIONAL ELECTION: 8-day deployment of security forces proposed

A proposal is now on the table to keep law enforcement agencies deployed for eight days during the upcoming 13th parliamentary election.

The Election Commission (EC) will review the proposal, as the armed forces are traditionally deployed for five days during such elections.

This was discussed at a meeting with the EC high-ups and representatives of various law enforcement agencies on Monday.

The meeting was held at the Nirbachan Bhaban, the EC headquarters in the capital's Agargaon area.

EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed briefed reporters following the meeting.

"We shall examine the proposal for an eight-day deployment of law enforcement agencies, whereas it is five days traditionally," he said.

The EC's initial plan was a five-day deployment, he said.

The proposal was to deploy security forces three days before the polls, on the polling day, and four days thereafter, he elaborated.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin chaired the meeting participated by election commissioners.

Top officials of various forces, including representatives of the chiefs of all armed forces, Bangladesh Police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Bangladesh Coast Guard, National Security Intelligence, and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, also attended the meeting.

Akhtar said the discussions broadly focused on several key areas, including the overall security of polling stations and polling officials; coordination among field-level forces; prevention of illegal arms; control of licensed arms; monitoring the use of artificial intelligence (AI); curb misinformation and propaganda on social media; and providing security to foreign journalists, observers, and monitoring agencies during the election.

Asked if any of the participants expressed concern at the meeting, the EC senior secretary responded in the negative.

Rather, everyone was dedicated to holding a free, fair, and participatory election, he added.

Akhtar told reporters around 90,000 to 1,00,000 army personnel were expected to be deployed during the elections.

Nearly 1,50,000 police officials and the highest number of 0.5-0.6 million Ansar and VDP members would also be there, he said.

Responding to a query, he said the issue of deploying the armed forces to aid the civil administration or as law enforcement agencies would be finalised after amending the Representation of the People Order (RPO).

The EC official said while the public would be prohibited from using drones during the election campaigns, law enforcement agencies would be allowed to do so for security purposes.

Akhtar further said the current environment was conducive to holding elections and Monday's discussions were intended to strengthen that foundation. "Of course, there is an environment conducive to elections, and today's discussion is aimed at further consolidating that, and it will continue."

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