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Download PDF The Election Commission (EC) has moved to formulate rules for deployment of armed forces alongside other regular forces in local government elections with powers to arrest anyone without warrant on grounds of violation of electoral rules.
Empowered by the caretaker government to formulate rules to conduct elections to city corporations and municipalities, the EC has already drafted rules also seeking authority to cancel candidatures on grounds of gross irregularities in the elections, sources in the EC said.
To enable the EC to make legal provisions for deployment of armed forces in elections to local government bodies, the term ‘law enforcement agency’ was incorporated in the definition chapter of the recently promulgated ordinances on city corporations and municipalities.
The LGRD ministry has now drafted ordinances on zila, upazila and union parishads also incorporating the term ‘law enforcement agency’ in those, sources in the ministry said.
The term law enforcement agency means police force, Rapid Action Battalion, Bangladesh Rifles, ansar force, battalion ansar, coast guards and the defence services — army, navy and air force.
“Inclusion of the term law enforcement agency in the laws makes the task of preparing a legal framework for deployment of armed forces easier for the EC,” a senior official at the EC Secretariat said.
In the draft rules for elections to city corporations and municipalities, the EC has specified jurisdictions of the armed forces deployed in the polls. And it will send the draft to the law ministry within a week for vetting, and finalise the rules after the ministry sends those back, EC sources said.
Once the rules are made, members of the army, police and other regular law enforcement agencies engaged in election duties would be empowered to arrest anybody without warrant to ensure peace and law and order in polling stations or within 400 yards of polling stations on the polling day.
Besides, members of law enforcement agency will be empowered to compel contesting candidates to abide by the code of conduct in carrying out election campaigns.
Officials at the EC Secretariat said the same provisions on deployment of armed forces would be incorporated in the rules for conducting polls to zila, upazila and union parishads.
At present, the EC can ask the government to engage the armed forces only in parliamentary election duties.
The armed forces engaged in parliamentary election duties are authorised to arrest anybody without warrant for violation of electoral laws and for illegal activities.
The defence forces were provided with powers, like that of the police force, by including them in the definition of the law enforcement agency in 2001.
In the absence of specific laws, the EC cannot insist on deployment of the armed forces in local government elections.
In 2003, the EC asked the government to deploy army in union parishad elections to help maintain law and order, but the government refused to do so, triggering an unpleasant situation.
The government defended its stance saying the EC could not ask for army deployment in union parishad elections since there was no law to this effect.
The EC would now be in a position to ask the government, if it feels necessary, to deploy armed forces in elections to any tiers of local government, EC sources explained.
Earlier, the government deployed army only in elections to city corporations in 2002 to help the civil administration maintain law and order. But the army personnel did not have powers to arrest anyone without warrant on grounds of illegal activities.
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