Greater than half the polling centres have been recognized as “risk-prone” for the final elections in Bangladesh, as officers stated 90% of them might be beneath CCTV surveillance, with many policemen deployed within the capital, Dhaka, sporting physique cameras.
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Officers stated the Election Fee’s safety system is predicated on danger evaluation. “Safety deployment is being made based mostly on native sensitivity assessments,” Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Mohammad Sanaullah informed a media briefing late Tuesday.
EC officers stated the elections would witness the largest-ever deployment of regulation enforcement personnel and essentially the most in depth use of know-how within the nation’s electoral historical past.
Mr. Sanaullah stated the ballot physique anticipated regulation enforcement businesses to make sure a peaceable ambiance for voters throughout polling and after elections.
He stated the EC was largely happy with the present law-and-order state of affairs and “in comparison with any time prior to now, we’re in a greater place now”.
His feedback got here hours after the police Inspector Basic Baharul Alam stated they discovered 24,000 out of almost 43,000 polling centres throughout the nation had been “excessive” or “average” risk-prone election stations.
Police stated they supplied a listing of risk-prone polling centres to the EC, which confirmed that out of two,131 polling centres in Dhaka, 1,614 had been risk-prone. Nonetheless, the military, in a media briefing earlier, stated they’ve recognized two centres in Dhaka metropolis to be “dangerous”.
Election Commissioner Brigadier Basic (Retd.) Abul Fazal Md. Sanaullah on Tuesday (February 10) stated almost 958,000 regulation enforcement personnel have been deployed throughout the nation to make sure a free, truthful and neutral nationwide election and referendum on Thursday.
“Moreover, for the primary time, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Autos), drones, and body-worn cameras are getting used for election safety,” he informed a press briefing on general election preparations at Nirbachan Bhaban within the capital’s Agargaon.
He stated voting might be held in 299 constituencies on Thursday. Voting in Sherpur-3 has been postponed because of the loss of life of a candidate there.
A complete of two,098 govt magistrates and 657 judicial magistrates will discharge duties within the election filed.
The Election Commissioner stated, “For the primary time, UAVs, drones, and body-worn cameras are getting used for regulation enforcement. Round 25,000 body-worn cameras might be deployed on the sphere. A few of these are IP-based for dwell feed, whereas others will report domestically. Furthermore, for steady monitoring, CCTV cameras have already been put in in over 90% of centres.” He stated voting will proceed from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.. Nonetheless, voters current throughout the polling middle by 4:30 p.m. will nonetheless be allowed to vote.
He stated voting might be held in a complete of 42,659 centres. EC knowledge confirmed that first-time voters made up some 3.58% of the full 1,27,700,597 voters.
The polls are being held concurrently together with a referendum on a posh 84-point reform package deal. The competition is especially between the Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion (BNP) and its as soon as ally, Jamaat-e-Islami.
Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus’ interim authorities final yr disbanded deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League and barred it from contesting the polls.
A collection of pre-poll surveys performed prior to now two months by consulting corporations, analysis organisations and suppose tanks recommend that the BNP was the frontrunner and that its new chairman, Tarique Rahman, is in pole place to be the subsequent prime minister.
Hasina’s Awami League authorities was ousted in a student-led violent avenue protest, dubbed the July Rebellion, on August 5, 2024.
Revealed – February 11, 2026 11:38 am IST