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Published : 10 Feb 2026, 01:48 PM
Although the risk of militant attacks during the election campaign has eased, it still cannot be ruled out ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, says Inspector General of Police (IGP) Baharul Alam.
He shared his perspective at a press conference at the Police Headquarters’ Media Centre on Tuesday.
The IGP said the risk of a militant attack could have been ruled out if the Keraniganj incident had not happened.
“At this moment we are not feeling an acute sense of threat. But we are not ruling it out either. We have taken measures to deal with any possible attack,” the IGP said.
Asked by journalists whether there was a possibility of militant attacks around the election, he said the main concern had been during the campaign period.
“Our primary concern was during the campaign phase. Those who are anti-election believe that what they call ‘Western democracy’ does not align with their ideology. They want religion-based nominations and oppose these processes. They had plans to set off blasts or similar acts during election campaigning,” he said. “The election campaign ended yesterday, but no such incident occurred.”
Although he said the risk could not be ruled out completely, people can feel reassured that the risk of militant attacks was no longer as significant as before.
On election-related law and order, the IGP said CCTV cameras have been installed at 80 to 90 percent of polling centres and around 187,000 police personnel will be deployed during the election.
Explaining how risky polling centres were identified, he said a total of 8,770 centres have been classified as vulnerable, considering factors such as remoteness, candidates’ positions, voter sentiment, dominance and other issues.
He added that 16,000 polling centres have been categorised as medium-risk ones.
In response to another question, Baharul said that during the July Uprising, 1,330 police weapons were looted, along with nearly 1,000 privately licensed firearms that were deposited at police stations.
“Any illegal weapon poses a threat. Besides, weapons enter the country through different ways. We have taken all kinds of measures to tackle this,” he said.
Regarding the submission of licensed firearms before the polls, the IGP said 27,995 legal weapons have been deposited following a directive from the home ministry.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had set Jan 31 as the deadline for depositing licensed weapons.
“Some people may be abroad and have kept their weapons in lockers. Those weapons may not have been deposited, but that number is very small,” he added.
He said all necessary measures have been taken to ensure that voting is held peacefully and amid festivity.
“For this election, 187,603 police personnel will be deployed. In addition, nearly 600,000 Ansar members, 100,000 Army personnel, along with members of the BGB and RAB, will be deployed,” he said.
The IGP also said that since the announcement of the election schedule, five people have been killed and 613 injured in 317 election-related incidents of violence.
Referring to the killing of Osman Hadi of Inqilab Moncho, he described it as political in nature and said investigations are ongoing in each of the incidents.
“To ensure election security, we have adopted a three-tier security system,” he said. “Each polling centre will have stationary forces, mobile teams will operate outside, and striking forces will be ready to respond to emergencies.”
Responding to the recent reports in the media about a list of 3,000 criminals and 352 shooters, the police chief said, “I am not sure whose list this is. The number could be slightly more or less. But in a country of 180 million people, that many criminals cannot foil an election.”
The IGP claimed that while isolated crimes such as robberies or killings may occur, there is currently no force capable of disrupting the entire election.
