Around one lakh army personnel and 1.5 lakh members of the police will be deployed across Bangladesh to maintain security and order during the upcoming national election, expected to be held in the first half of February next year.
Election Commission senior secretary Akhtar Ahmed said this on Monday, after a meeting chaired by chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin at the EC headquarters in the capital鈥檚 Agargaon area.
Senior EC officials and representatives from major law enforcement and defence agencies attended the meeting.
The EC secretary said that the deployment plan, coordination, and specific roles of the forces were discussed at the meeting.
The EC secretary said that the initial plan was to deploy security forces for five days, but a proposal was made to extend the period to eight days - three days before the election, the election day, and four days after the election.
鈥楾his proposal is currently under examination,鈥� he said.
The inspector general of police informed the meeting that about 1.5 lakh police personnel would be engaged in election duties.
The Ansar and Village Defence Party would form the largest contingent, with 5.5 lakh to 6 lakh members expected to be deployed, Akhtar said.
He said that the Armed Forces, mainly comprising army personnel, were expected to number between 90,000 and one lakh.
He said that these are preliminary figures that may be adjusted after categorisation and final distribution.
A key issue discussed in the meeting was the role of the Armed Forces, particularly under the 鈥業n Aid to Civil Power鈥� framework, with the meeting generally supporting the continuation of the existing arrangement.
He said that the final decision on their legal status, whether to maintain the current framework or designate them as part of the law enforcement structure, would depend on revisions to the Representation of the People Order to ensure compliance with electoral laws.
He said that the Armed Forces would also provide logistical support, including transporting election materials via Army and Air Force helicopters.
To facilitate this, they have requested that helipads be prepared in designated areas for landing and take-off operations, the EC secretary said.
Akhtar said that emphasis was placed on strengthening coordination and intelligence sharing among agencies to enhance security.
He said that the command structure would be clearly defined to determine who was authorised to聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 communicate officially and that it would be adapted to suit regional environments, noting that coastal areas would require different arrangements from those in the plains or bordering zones.
Several technology-based security measures were also discussed in the meeting.
These include the use of body-worn cameras for police officers and drones by law enforcement agencies for surveillance, he said.
He also said that the meeting explored the use of artificial intelligence and IT systems to curb misinformation on social media, drawing on a model that had been successfully implemented by the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre during the recent Puja season, which had covered over 35,000 sites.
The meeting was attended by home ministry senior secretary Nasimul Gani, IGP Baharul Alam, and representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Armed Forces Division, Border Guard Bangladesh, Coast Guard, Ansar and VDP, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence, NTMC, Rapid Action Battalion, Special Branch and the Criminal Investigation Department of the police.
