In a move that is widely being seen as a means to tilt the electoral balance in its favour, Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today took the decision to constitute “supernumerary” or additional posts among the country’s senior police officers, documents accessed by the Northeast News show. Elections to the 12th Jatiya Sangshad are scheduled to be held by January 29, 2024.

According to a Bangladesh finance ministry order issued on October 25, the government has decided to create 365 new posts for senior police officers. In line with this order, ten news posts of additional inspectors-general (Grade II), 65 deputy inspectors-general (Grade III), 140 additional deputy inspectors-general (Grade IV) and 150 superintendents of police (Grade V) have been created.

Knowledgeable sources said that these additional police officers will be quickly deployed for law and order duties across the country’s 64 districts in general but many of them will be posted in some of the most politically and electorally sensitive and/or “weak” areas.

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“Bangladesh’s police force has been largely politicised and there are already several senior-level officers in key posts who originate from Gopalganj district, which is Sheikh Hasina’s birthplace,” a top official said, adding that the creation of the new posts, in which the officers will be for a “temporary duration”, will “have a direct impact on the elections”. Previously, there have been serious allegations against the ruling Awami League for politicising the police and civil administration cross all levels.

The new posts have been created with eight conditionalities, the October 25 order, issued by deputy secretary Chowdhury Ashraful Karim, says. The first condition is that the newly elevated officers will have to accept their assignment “gracefully” and in line with the prime minister’s pleasure.

Secondly, the new appointees will have to accept the recommendations of the committee of secretaries in the context of administrative development. Thirdly, the upgraded payscales of the newly elevated officers will be in accordance with the finance ministry’s regulations. Fourthly, the “supernumerary posts” will be in held by the officers concerned for a period of one year.

While a “general order” will be issued to notify the news posts and promotions, four copies of these GOs will be shared with the finance ministry and to the chief accounts and finance officer.

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Questioning the timing of the October 25 order, well-placed government sources said that the creation of “supernumerary posts” was “nothing less than sops and largesse to the 365 police officers”. In this context, the sources said the creation of additional posts for senior police officers could have been “put off by a few months till a new government took power” in Dhaka.

This, the sources said, was reminiscent of past instances when SPs in the districts were given the “carrot” of promotion to additional DIG rank based on their “performance on the field” and after the completion of electoral processes. Similar decisions to promote army officers was done ahead of the “questionable” 2018 (during the tenure of the then army chief General Aziz Ahmed) general elections which were marked with widespread rigging and other malpractices indulged in by police and army officers.