The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) has said conducting elections in 300 constituencies in a single day with the regular law-enforcing agencies is not possible.
Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said no national election in Bangladesh had ever been held without army deployment.
He said the Election Commission (EC) will would decide about where and how to deploy the troops in its law-and-order meeting after the announcement of polls schedule.
EC officials said the army could be engaged in election duty for five days before and after the polls.
“No national election in Bangladesh has been held without army’s assistance since 1973,” Ahmad said on Wednesday, explaining the EC’s position.
“It is not possible to conduct polls in 300 constituencies in one day with the police, BGB, RAB and Ansars,” he said.
This is why, he said, the EC had deployed army in each general election.
“Moreover, this time the numbers of voters and polling centres have increased,” said the CEC.
He said assistance from the armed forces would be sought at “the right time following the procedures of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Order.
Ahmad said the EC did not seek army deployment in previously conducted civic polls considering the situation.
The Constitution stipulates organising the 10th parliamentary elections by Jan 24, 2014.
The EC has said it will announce polls schedule in ‘due time’.
On Monday, Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz had said all law-enforcing agencies would be deployed during the polls in accordance with the RPO.
“[We] will also apply to the President for army deployment this time too to ensure free and fair polls,” he had said.
His remarks came at a time when the two major political parties are at loggerheads over the form of the polls-time dispensation.
He, however, had not made it ‘clear’ whether troops would be deployed before or after the polls schedule.
EC officials said over 500,000 security personnel were needed to maintain order at the 300 constituencies across Bangladesh.
At least 50,000 armed forces personnel were deployed during the ninth general election in 2008.
One EC official said there was no provision in the RPO before 2001 for army deployment during the elections.
However, troops were deployed at district, thana, Upazila levels to maintain order during each parliamentary polls since 1973.
According to the EC officials, army is usually deployed for five days in electoral areas during national elections.
During erstwhile military and caretaker government regimes, though the army was on the ground for a prolonged period, it was engaged in polls-related duties only for five to seven days.
Personnel of the law-enforcing agencies are generally deployed for five days during parliamentary elections and for four days during by-elections and local elections in the polls-bound areas.
File Photo
EC’s Deputy Secretary Mihir Sarwar Morshed said, after reinstatement of parliamentary democracy, army was deployed for five days during the fifth national elections.
Besides, during the 1996, 2001 and 2008 parliamentary elections army was in the field for five to seven days.
Amidst the surcharged political atmosphere ahead of the elections on Feb 15, 1996, army was engaged in maintaining law and order for over two weeks since the electioneering.
In 2006, for the scheduled Jan 22 election, which was eventually abandoned, army was deployed from Jan 9.
The EC officials said it would be decided in the EC’s law-and-order meeting, based on the intelligence report, for how long and in which areas the army would be deployed.
Source: Bd news24
