DHAKA, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladesh Election Commission announced its plan on Thursday to deploy army troops across the country two weeks before the national elections slated for Dec. 30.
Small teams of army personnel will work with the law enforcers after Dec. 15 in all the 64 districts, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said at a special meeting with law-enforcement agencies in Dhaka.
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.
BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said their alliance decided to contest the parliamentary polls, urging the government to ensure a level playing field for holding a free, fair and neutral election.
The ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which rose to power with a landslide election victory in early 2009 and won its second term in 2014, is facing challenges from Zia's BNP and its allies, which boycotted the 2014 elections.
