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Drones barred at national polls on security grounds

Eakrm-Udd Dowla, Senior Correspondent  | banglanews24.com
Update: 2025-10-20 13:00:25
Drones barred at national polls on security grounds

Election Commission (EC) has decided to prohibit the use of drones during the country’s 13th national parliamentary election, citing four risks.

The risks include potential breaches of voter privacy, security threats from unauthorized devices that could carry hazardous items, non-compliance with aviation rules, and the possibility of capturing and misusing images or video of ballots and voters. 

The decision follows consultations with law enforcement and security agencies, according to an EC election-management report prepared by Deputy Secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain. 

The report states that while drones are a modern technology, their deployment near polling stations and election offices could infringe on private spaces, disrupt operations and compromise safety. 

It argues that unregulated flights over polling centers and crowds may pose a public-security risk and facilitate data theft or intimidation through clandestine filming of voters.

The EC is also considering deploying the armed forces “in aid to civil power,” as was done during the 12th parliamentary polls, when troops acted as a mobile “striking force” outside polling stations. 

Any force deployment for the 13th elections would be finalized after detailed discussions and aligned with the Commission’s decisions, the report says. 

To maintain order before and after polling, the Commission plans legal action against outside provocateurs and unlawful infiltrators, and has urged constant vigilance among all stakeholders. 

It emphasizes stepped-up protection for EC offices at regional, district and sub-district levels, calling for guidance and oversight from the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure police take necessary local measures.

The report notes that helicopters from the armed forces may again be required to ferry election materials and personnel to hard-to-reach polling centers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts—specifically Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari—replicating arrangements used in previous elections. 

Where mobile networks are unavailable, wireless communications operated by the Bangladesh Army or Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) may be used; during the 12th election, police wireless was used in parts of Rangamati. 

The Commission identifies a dozen key challenges ahead of the vote: safeguarding polling officials and centers; keeping electoral areas peaceful; protecting communal harmony and minority communities; coordinating and streamlining the work of law-enforcement agencies; preventing and controlling illegal weapons; providing security support to foreign journalists and pre-election observers; countering false and misleading information on social media—including content generated with artificial intelligence; managing postal voting; planning for the deployment of armed forces to maintain order; curbing illegal infiltrators; ensuring security at EC offices nationwide; taking peace-and-order measures based on intelligence assessments; arranging helicopter support and logistics for hill and remote areas; and enforcing the drone ban at polling time.

The EC says it is moving to complete preparations for voting in the first half of February, with the election schedule likely to be announced in the first half of December.

Note on spellings: Names and official titles have been verified against authoritative sources, including the EC Secretariat letter signed by Deputy Secretary Mohammad Monir Hossain, the official spellings of Khagrachhari District, and the formal name “Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).” 

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