Police to vet political affiliation of polling officials

The Special Branch (SB) of Bangladesh Police has instructed grassroots-level police officers to gather information about the political affiliations of polling officials ahead of the 12th Jatiya Sangsad election.

Multiple sources involved in the process have informed The Business Standard that SB headquarters recently dispatched letters to district superintendents of police and metropolitan police commissioners in this regard.

An official, holding the rank of deputy inspector general at SB headquarters but wishing to remain anonymous, told TBS, "Gathering information about officials involved in the electoral process prior to national or local government elections is standard procedure for the police."

"The information gathered will also encompass security concerns, such as polling station safety, and other pertinent data. This information will then be reported to the relevant government departments, including the Election Commission," the official added.

An additional superintendent of police of Sylhet range informed TBS that the police have currently a multitude of tasks related to the national polls.

"We are assessing the appropriate number of police patrol teams to be deployed at voting centres on election day. Once this task is completed, we will commence the verification of information regarding polling officials, as per the order we have received. This verification process is expected to take another week," he said.

Maintaining anonymity to avoid potential repercussions, an upazila election officer from the Chattogram division informed TBS that the responsibility of verifying or vetting the political affiliations of presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officials does not lie with their department.

"We are not authorised to conduct such verifications," he said, adding that this task is entrusted to law enforcement agencies and intelligence bodies, which will carry out the necessary assessments.

Another additional deputy commissioner from a metropolitan police unit informed TBS that his unit has also been assigned the task of verifying polling officials' political affiliations, including any involvement in opposition or unregistered parties, as well as their family members' political affiliations.

"We will begin the verification process shortly, likely within the next week," he added.

On 16 November, the Election Commission released a circular outlining the process for preparing a panel of polling officers.

Point six of the circular states that, under Section 9 of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, the returning officers are responsible for preparing a panel of presiding officers, assistant presiding officers, and polling officers for the parliamentary election.

The panel of polling officers must be prepared and appointed according to the instructions laid down in Chapter IV of the 12th Jatiya Sangsad Election Management Manual. Within seven days of the election schedule being announced, information regarding the panel of polling officers must be submitted to the Election Commission Secretariat, the circular said.

According to the Election Commission, there will be approximately 42,000 polling centres nationwide during the upcoming national elections. Each polling centre will be staffed with one presiding officer, two assistant presiding officers, and at least one polling officer per booth.