DHAKA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- With five days ahead of Bangladesh's general election, Army troops have been deployed in most parts of the country to assist the civil administration in ensuring security.
The troops, deployed in 389 out of about 500 sub-districts on Monday morning, will stay until Jan. 2 to help maintain law and order during the election slated for Dec. 30.
According to the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) of the Bangladesh Army, members of the Bangladesh Navy were also posted in 18 coastal sub-districts.
Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed earlier told journalists that army personnel would be deployed as a striking force from Monday and they will remain in the field until Jan. 2.
A total of 1, 016 platoons (35 members in each platoon) of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have already been deployed at different border sub-districts of the country to thwart any incident.
The commission postponed the polling date for the country's national election to Dec. 30 from Dec. 23 after the major opposition alliance led by ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) urged the commission to defer the election date by a month.
As many as 1,841 candidates are contesting in the country's upcoming general election for 300 constituencies.
According to the commission, out of the total contesting candidates in the 11th national election, 1,745 are party candidates and 96 are independent candidates.
