EC chalks out security

The Election Commission has chalked out a four-day special security plan ahead of the upcoming Union Parishad (UP) polls to hold them in a free, fair and peaceful manner.

Police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Ansar, Armed Police Battalion (APBn), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Coast Guard, executive magistrates and judicial magistrates will be deployed from March 20 to March 23 to maintain law and order in the poling centres.

Some 17 law enforcers, comprising police and Ansar, will be deployed in each general polling station and 19 in vulnerable one.

Besides, APBn, Rab, BGB and Coast Guard will act a striking force in electoral areas.

The commission will place the security plan at a meeting on March 3 to discuss the overall law and order situation during the polls.

The EC will convene the meeting, in which top level officials of the home ministry, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, deputy commissioners (DCs), and superintendents of police (SPs) of all districts will be present.

In the UP elections held before 2011, some 20 law enforcers were deployed in each polling centre.

Asked why the number was lowered, an EC official told that The Daily Star that some 15 Ansar members were deployed in each station in previous elections, but the number has been reduced to 12 since 2012.

"The number of police and other law enforcement members will remain unchanged," he said, seeking anonymity.

Monitoring cells will, however, be set up at the office of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) to supervise the law and order situation in the centres.

Vehicular movement will be restricted in electoral areas eight hours before the voting starts.

Election to 738 UPs will be held on March 22 in the first phase.