Dhaka: The government is in the process of training approximately 7.68 lakh law enforcement personnel, including police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and Ansar, in preparation for the parliamentary election scheduled for February. 'The training will be completed by mid-January,' Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury announced after a core committee meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, around 1.5 lakh police personnel are undergoing training to ensure comprehensive security during the elections. The final phase of this police training is set to conclude by January 15. The Human Rights division of the Police Headquarters has developed nine training modules based on input from election experts and lawyers to prepare the personnel for potential law and order challenges during the elections.
Bangladesh has established 130 smaller and four larger police training centers nationwide, where officers are being trained per the election duty curriculum. The training program includes two documentaries-one over 15 minutes of audiovisual content and a nine-minute film, supplemented by a booklet.
The Home Adviser further detailed that 5.85 lakh members of the Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) are also receiving election-related training. Of these, 1.35 lakh Ansar personnel are training with firearms, while 4.5 lakh are training without arms. This initiative aims to deploy 13 Ansar-VDP personnel at each of the approximately 45,000 polling stations.
In addition, 33,000 BGB members from 1,100 platoons will be stationed during the elections, with 60 percent of their training already completed. The electoral training for BGB is expected to be finalized by December 31. An additional 80,000 armed forces members will serve as striking forces to ensure the 13th parliamentary elections are conducted smoothly.