Shawdesh Desk:

President Mohammad Shahabuddin on Sunday approved in principle the deployment of the army during Bangladesh’s next general election slated for January 7.

The decision came from a meeting between the president and chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal at Bangabhaban in Dhaka.

‘But the decision of tenure of army deployment will be taken after discussion,’ EC secretary Md Jahangir Alam told reporters following the meeting.

The meeting was held for about half an hour until about 11:30am.

Earlier on December 11, the Election Commission decided to deploy Bangladesh Army personnel across the country for 13 days from December 29 on the occasion of the January 7 general election.

Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman, principal staff officer of Armed Forces Division, made the disclosure on that day after a meeting with the Election Commission at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka.

He had said that the deployment of army troops would continue until January 10.