The Election Commission plans to leave out the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) from its security plans for the Union Parishad elections.
The BNP, which has been opposing the decision to hold the elections in party lines, has claimed they will be marred by more violence than usual.
But Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz disagrees.
“There will be adequate deployment of police, RAB and Ansar-VDP. We’re not planning to use the BGB.
“The voting centres will have more personnel from Ansar,” he said on Tuesday.
The chairman election to be held in six phases starting from Mar 22 will have candidates with party tickets for the first time.
The BNP, in a letter to the commission, has said the decision will not only increase the scale of violence but also upset social cohesion.
But Nawaz said those who compete in the election are usually neighbours and are acquainted with each other, which according to him, rules out chances of conflict.
Police, also anticipating violence, have told the Election Commission it will be very difficult to ensure safety if polling is held in more than 350 unions on the same day.
But more than 700 unions on average are likely to see voting in each phase.
“There is no cause for worries. We will carefully enforce the code of conduct. Executive and judicial magistrates will make sure those who violate it are punished,” Shah Nawaz said.
Each voting centre had 15 security personnel during the election in 2003.
In 2011, the coast guards joined their ranks and the number of personnel guarding each centre was raised to 20. It was increased further in some places following requests by returning officers.
But Md Sohul Hossain, who was election commissioner in 2011, said the situation now is different.
“We used the BGB then. Our time was different. The EC now thinks police are enough to handle security… it’s very good if they are. I think it’s best not to deploy the BGB for everything.”
But his advice is that the BGB be deployed in places where the risk is high.
The balloting has a budget to the tune of Tk 6 billion and Tk 3.5 billion has been allocated for law enforcement while the rest will be spent on holding the election itself.
Source: Bd news24
