Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Monday said nearly 897,117 members of law enforcement agencies, including 100,000 army personnel, will be deployed across the country to ensure security during the upcoming 13th national parliamentary election.
Speaking to reporters after the 20th meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on Law and Order at the Secretariat, he said the deployment would include 5,000 navy personnel, 3,730 air force members, 149,443 police, 576,314 Ansar and VDP members, 37,453 BGB personnel, 3,585 coast guard members, 7,700 RAB personnel, and 13,390 members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence as support staff.
The meeting, chaired by the home adviser, reviewed the overall law and order situation, election security planning, progress of Operation Devil Hunt Phase-2, recovery of illegal arms, and ongoing anti-narcotics drives.
Jahangir Alam said the interim government is committed to holding a free, fair, neutral, peaceful and credible election, describing election security as its top priority. To this end, law enforcement agencies will be deployed in two phases nationwide, with overall coordination under returning officers, as outlined in a Home Ministry circular issued on January 6.
Under the “in aid to civil power” arrangement, members of the armed forces will assist police, BGB, Ansar-VDP and the civil administration. The second phase of centre-based deployment will run from February 8 to 14, covering the critical polling period.
An Election Law and Order Coordination Cell will be formed with representatives from all security agencies, while a special team under the emergency service 999 will work round the clock to relay election-related complaints for immediate action.
According to the adviser, Bangladesh has 42,761 polling centres, of which 8,780 are classified as highly important, 16,548 as important, and 17,433 as general. Police will use 25,000 body-worn cameras at important and highly important centres, and CCTV cameras will be installed at all polling centres. Security personnel training will be completed by January 20, marking the first time election-specific training has been introduced.
He also said 418 surveillance drones will be used during the election—200 by the army, 100 by BGB, 50 by police, and the rest by other forces. Dog squads will also be deployed. In addition, a newly developed digital platform, the “Election Security App–2026”, will allow real-time monitoring and rapid response to security incidents.
Other measures include helicopter support by the air force to transport election materials and officials to remote areas, intensified patrols ahead of polling, and swift action against individuals attempting to disrupt the election process.
Providing an update on Operation Devil Hunt Phase-2, the home adviser said 19,854 people were arrested between December 13 and January 17. During the operation, law enforcement agencies recovered 346 firearms, 2,191 rounds of ammunition, 694 locally made weapons, and explosives. Including arrests on warrants and cases, a total of 53,367 people have been detained so far.
