No CCTV surveillance in 12th national election: Commissioners

Election commissioners Md Alamgir and Rasheda Sultana on Sunday indicated that there is no plan to monitor the upcoming 12th national election by installing CCTV cameras in the polling centers, reports UNB.

Election commissioner Alamgir gave this indication to reporters at the Election Bhaban on Sunday when asked about the plan to install CCTV cameras in the risky centers.

"We haven’t discussed it much since there were no formal discussion. As you know, there are about 400,000 centres in 300 constituencies. There may be a number of risky centres. It is difficult to monitor the situation through CCTV cameras in so many centers,” said Md Alamgir.

"We will make special arrangements at the vulnerable centres in that case. I mean, we're going to deploy more law enforcement members in those centers," he added.

Mentioning that if all the parties participate in the election, a balanced environment prevails automatically, EC Alamgir said, “They (parties) play a crucial role in maintaining discipline rather than law enforcement agencies. Because they know that if the situation deteriorates or the situation worsens in the elections, they will be the ones who will be affected.”

Meanwhile, election commissioner Rasheda Sultana said that the commission will not use CCTV cameras in the upcoming 12th parliamentary election.

She said this while talking to reporters at her election office at Agargaon in the capital on Sunday.

Rasheda Sultana said that there is no legal obligation to use CCTV cameras in the election, so the Commission is not obliged to use cameras.