EC writes to Armed Forces Division for 3 battalions of troops for city polls duty

The Election Commission has written to the Armed Forces Division seeking deployment of three battalions of troops to guard against foul play during the city corporation elections.

The EC Secretariat’s Deputy Secretary Md Shamsul Alam sent the missive to the AFD on Tuesday via both post and a ‘special courier’.
 
The letter sought one battalion for each of the three city corporations to be deployed from Apr 26 until Apr 29.
 
The elections to the Dhaka South, Dhaka North and Chittagong city corporations are slated for Apr 28.
 
The EC after long considerations announced on Tuesday to call out army along with other law-enforcing agencies to maintain law and order.
 
“Although the situation is fine, we will be bringing in the army so that the people have no fear,” Election Commissioner Md Shah Nawaz told journalists in the afternoon.

The Commission in the letter told the Armed Forces Division that the army would be assigned to the city corporations as ‘reserve and striking’ force.

They will wait to be called in by the returning officer.

It said the troopers would help the local administrations in the polls-related work and maintain security. Every battalion would have an executive magistrate, said the letter.

The EC in a meeting on Sunday made final decisions regarding deployment of law-enforcing agencies at the constituencies and polling centres during the polls.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad at a media call on Tuesday claimed the situations at the constituencies were ‘completely fair’ and the country was also in a ‘good state’.

“Enough personnel from police, BGB, RAB and other law-enforcing agencies will be deployed for election duty,” he said.

He said the current situation was ‘same’ as those during the past six city corporation elections.

Ahmad said, “There was no need to deploy the army. The army has been called to give the people psychological relief.

“They are confused. They have passed times recently filled with panic (due to the violent blockade and shutdowns).”

Former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain praised the EC’s decision, saying it was a positive one considering the voters’ mental state.

He, however, said three battalions of troopers were not enough given the size of the three city corporations.