Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury stated on Monday that the government will deploy nearly 900,000 members of law enforcement agencies and support services nationwide to ensure a free, fair, peaceful, and impartial 13th National Parliament election and referendum-2026, scheduled for February 12.
Speaking at a press briefing after the 20th meeting of the Law and Order Advisory Council Committee at the home ministry in Bangladesh Secretariat, the adviser said, “The deployment will be carried out in two phases, with all security operations coordinated under the authority of the returning officers.”
The deployment includes 100,000 members of Bangladesh Army, 5,000 from Bangladesh Navy, 3,730 (including 1,250 in land-based roles) from Bangladesh Air Force, 149,443 from Bangladesh Police, 576,314 from Bangladesh Ansar and VDP, 37,453 from Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), 3,585 from Bangladesh Coast Guard, 7,700 from Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and 13,390 from Fire Service and Civil Defence (support services), according to the home affairs adviser.
The second phase of deployment will be vote-centric, with law enforcement personnel remaining on duty for seven days from February 8 to 14, he also said.
A Law and Order Coordination Cell will be formed involving the police, armed forces, BGB, Coast Guard and RAB to ensure seamless coordination.
A special team linked to the 999 emergency services will operate round-the-clock to receive election-related complaints and relay them instantly to the Home Ministry and local coordination cells.
To enhance security, 25,000 body-worn cameras will be used at important polling stations, while CCTV cameras will be installed in all 42,761 polling stations nationwide.
The government has also categorised polling centres into 8,780 most important, 16,548 important, and 17,433 general stations based on security sensitivity.
For the first time in a national election, 418 drones from various law enforcement agencies will be deployed for surveillance, alongside dog squads and area-based operations to recover illegal weapons and arrest suspected miscreants.
The home adviser said the newly introduced “Election Security App–2026”, developed by the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), will play a crucial role in real-time monitoring and rapid response to law and order issues.
He reiterated that law enforcement agencies have been instructed to take immediate legal action against any attempt to disrupt or influence the election, ensuring a festive and peaceful voting environment across the country.