Last Updated on October 20, 2025 11:03 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Around eight lakh law enforcement personnel may be deployed across Bangladesh for eight days during the upcoming national election, Election Commission (EC) Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said on Sunday. “The EC had initially planned for a five-day deployment, but today’s meeting proposed extending it to eight days. This proposal will now be reviewed,” he told reporters after a law and order coordination meeting.
The plan includes deploying 90,000–100,000 army members, 1.5 lakh police, and 5.5 lakh Ansar personnel nationwide. The final duration will depend on the election budget.
Ahmed said 85% of looted weapons have been recovered, and the rest are being traced. He described the overall security environment as “satisfactory.”
The 13th National Election is expected in early February, before Ramadan, with the schedule to be announced in December. Sunday’s high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, was attended by the home secretary and heads of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies. It reviewed a three-phase action plan—before, during, and after polling—to ensure peaceful voting.
The EC also discussed preventing illegal arms use, curbing social media misinformation via AI monitoring, and coordinating safety for foreign journalists and observers. Drones will be banned for campaigning but allowed for security surveillance.