None will be spared for attempting to occupy polling centres: Home adviser

None, irrespective of their power and, will be spared for trying to occupy and control polling centres during the 12 February general elections, warned Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Monday.

Overrunning polling centres is a common feature of Bangladesh elections. However, in the upcoming election, such practice will not get any relief, and the perpetrators will be booked sooner or later, the adviser said while speaking to reporters after a meeting at the office of Mymensingh City Corporation.

The meeting focused on election-time law and order situation in the Mymensingh Division.

The government would use dog squads, CCTV cameras, surveillance drones, and 24,700 police bodycams to deter muscle flexing by unruly groups. Despite all these, if someone takes the risk to apply force and alter the election outcome, he cannot evade the law in the long-run as his image will remain on camera records.

Even if he gets six-month bail, clear evidence captured on camera will ensure that he will not evade justice for long, the home adviser said.

Officials are now working to pre-empt a repetition of incident like the BNP-Jamaat deadly clash in Jhenaigati, Sherpur, the adviser said. Officials are actively working to book all the perpetrators behind the Jhenaigati clash.

However, in such cases, the culprits often leave the area for a distant site, and therefore, tracing and detaining them often takes “a little bit extra time than is usual,” the home adviser noted.

Regarding the outcome of the meeting at Mymensingh City Corporation, the adviser said officials from all the concerned law enforcement agencies took part in the talks. Based the discussions, the adviser is confident that the law enforcers are adequately prepared for ensuring a legitimate and credible election.