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The Election Commission (EC) has received a proposal to deploy law-enforcing agencies for eight days around the upcoming 13th parliamentary election.
EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed shared the information after a preparatory meeting with top law enforcement officials in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Monday, bdnews24.com reports.
“The EC had initially planned to deploy law enforcement for five days during the election period. Today’s meeting proposed extending it to eight days. The proposal will be reviewed,” said Akhtar.
According to the EC plan, law enforcement personnel would be deployed three days before the polls, on election day, and in the days following the vote.
The general election is expected to be held in early February 2026, before Ramadan, while the election schedule will be announced in the first half of December this year.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin chaired the meeting, which was attended by the four election commissioners, the home secretary, the EC secretary, and representatives of various law-enforcing agencies.
During the last parliamentary election, the Armed Forces were deployed for eight days, with an additional five days allotted for travel. Law enforcement remained on duty for 10 days during the 11th parliamentary election.
When asked about the security environment, the EC secretary said: “There is a fair environment for the vote, and no concerns were raised during the meeting. The heads of law-enforcing agencies did not express any apprehension. Much of the security plan will depend on the election budget, which will be finalised later.”
No specific directives were issued at the meeting, he added.
Akhtar also said the EC plans to curb the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) and to ban drone use during the election. Police officers on duty will be equipped with body-worn cameras.
The meeting began at 10:30am and lasted for two hours.