The Election Commission will meet with law enforcement agencies today to discuss beefing up the security arrangements for the May 15 elections to the Khulna and Gazipur city corporations.
According to the meeting’s work plan, law enforcers will be deployed two days before the start of voting and will remain for an additional day after the election to avert possible post-polls violence in the cities, which will be voting on partisan lines for the first time.
The Commission has initially decided to deploy 29 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Gazipur and 16 platoons in Khulna, in addition to police, Ansar and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
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Generally during elections to a local government body, 22 members of security forces are deployed at each polling centre, with an extra two sent to centres considered to be “vulnerable” to unrest.
Furthermore, mobile forces are stationed in each ward and a striking force is stationed in each reserved ward, both comprising police and Bangladesh Ansar Battalion. In addition, RAB and BGB personnel are also stationed at each ward.
However, the Election Commission Secretariat has recommended keeping police, RAB and BGB on standby as striking forces outside polling stations in the upcoming Gazipur and Khulna City polls.
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The Commission will also deploy one executive magistrate in each ward and a judicial magistrate for every three wards from the moment of the withdrawal of candidacy.
Election Commission officials said ensuring free and fair elections to the two city corporations posed “significant challenges” for them, as the elections are going to be held only months before the 11th general election slated for the end of the year.
The two major political parties, Awami League and BNP, will be trying to win the city elections at all costs to prove their popularity ahead of the national polls, they explained.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
