Lead to follow
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on Friday said members of the army will remain deployed for 15 days from December 26 to January 9 for maintaining the law and order before, during and after the January-5 general election.
“The army will be kept deployed from December 26 to January 9,” he said after a meeting with the returning officers and representatives of the law enforcement agencies at the conference room of the National Economic Council in the city.
“As we hold the general election in a single day, we’ve not arranged any election without the help of army since 1973. This year, we’ll engage the army as well,” he said.
The CEC, however, said the commission is yet to determine as to how many members of the army will be deployed. “The number of will be fixed following the requirement of the returning officers after evaluating the local situation.”
Replying to a question, he said the number of the army members to be deployed is likely to be same as in the 2008 national election or more than that.
Kazi Rakibuddin also said the duration of the army deployment in some places may be extended, if necessary.
There will be a magistrate in each of the army and BGB team to curb the violence and violation of the election code of conduct, he said.
In the meeting, Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police hailed from different districts informed the commission that the law and order situation will gradually improve.
“They’ve assured us of improving the law and order situation so that voter can exercise their franchise without any fear and said the situation has already improved,” the EC boss said.
The local administrations have already started drives to recover illegal arms and the drives will be strengthened further, he said responding to a question.
In reply to another query as to why the commission is going to deploy the army personnel as the election will be held only in 146 constituencies out of total 300 for which other law enforcement agencies are enough to maintain the law and order, the CEC said, “The number of police and Rab isn’t adequate any time in our country. Hence we’re calling the army.”
About the election observers, he said, “I think many agencies will send their observers to monitor the election if the law and order situation improves.”
Asked whether the European Union refused to send its observers, the CEC said the commission has no such information.
The commission is yet to identify the vulnerable polling stations, Rakibuddin said, adding that the list of the polling centres will be prepared in a few days.
In reply to another query, he said, “We earlier expected that the election will be held with the participation of all political parties. But it’s a legal process. Now we’re heading to hold the January-5 election through the process.”
Turning to the code of conduct, Rakibuddin said the commission has already given clear instructions to the returning officers and SPs that it in no way tolerates the violation of the code. “We’ll take action in case of the breach of the code,” he added.
The meeting was held from 3:15pm to 6:30pm with the Chief Election Commissioner in the chair.
Four election commissioners -– Mohammad Abdul Mobarak, Abu Hafiz, Brig Gen (retd) Zabed Ali and Md Shah Nawaz, Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Force Division Lt Gen Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq, Secretary of the public administration ministry Abdus Sobhan Sikdar, Inspector General of Police Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, EC secretary Dr Mohammad Sadik, top representatives from police, Rab, BGB and Ansar as well as returning officers and SPs, among others, attended the meeting.
Source: UNB Connect